
Book__ i H_5L___ 

Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 



THE 

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

OF ADOLESCENTS 



NORMAN E. RICHARDSON, S. T. B., Ph. D. 

Director of the Department of Religious Education 
of Boston University 



Including material contained in a pamphlet entitled: The 
Government of Adolescent Young People, prepared by 
William Byron Forbush and revised by Mary E. Moxcey, 
the copyrights of this and other pamphlets published by 
the American Institute of Child Life of Philadelphia having 
been purchased for the Department of Religious Education 
of Boston University. 



Published by 

The Abingdon Press 
New York 



^ 



* 



Copyright 1913 

BY THE 

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHILD LIFE 

Copyright, 1918 

by 

NORMAN E. RICHARDSON 



M 25 \ : j\% 

©CI.A51J392 



INTRODUCTION 

In selecting and preparing the material for this 
little volume, the author has intentionally avoided 
the exclusively academic and scholastic point of 
view. The needs of parents, teachers and other 
adult leaders, who are facing practical problems, 
have been kept in mind. Indeed, many of the 
paragraphs were written for the express purpose of 
answering questions which had been asked by per- 
sons who were facing perplexing situations in their 
own homes or schools. 

During the past three years, the author has 
delivered several short courses of lectures in con- 
munity schools of religious education and in sum- 
mer schools on such subjects as : The Psychology 
of Adolescent Boyhood, The Religious Nurture of 
Adolescent Young People, The Psychology of 
Religion, and Principles and Methods of Recrea- 
tional Leadership. As collateral reading in these 
courses, one monograph of a series of pamphlets 
formerly published by the American Institute of 
Child Life of Philadelphia: The Government of 
Adolescent Young People, prepared by William 
Byron Forbush, was used. The demand for it 
soon exhausted the third edition. 

Numerous requests have been received for these 
lectures, made available in book form. During 



iv INTRODUCTION 

the Summer School of the Canadian Young 
Men's Christian Associations held at Lake 
Couchiching in 1918, particularly, the Boys' 
Work Committee of the National Council to- 
gether with representatives of several evangelical 
denominations strongly urged the immediate 
preparation of such a volume. It was pointed 
out that the material should be made available 
for the training of teachers and other workers in 
tjie Intermediate, Senior and Young Peoples' 
Departments of t^he church school as well as for 
boy workers in the Canadian Y. M. C. A. 

The following chapters are the result of an 
effort to do three things. First, to gather to- 
gether material for an introductory study of 
adolescence that will be helpful to teachers in 
church and public schools, leaders of recreational 
groups, parents and social workers. Second, to 
organize this material so that it will prove to be 
a serviceable text-book to be used in third year 
specialization teacher-training classes in commu- 
nity schools of religious education and in other 
study groups. Third, to inspire students and 
others with the conviction that they can per- 
form a notable service for the Kingdom of God by 
guiding young people through the tumultuous 
years of adolescence. 

In several instances the contents of the pam- 



INTRODUCTION v 

phlet: The Government of Adolescent Young 
People, after having been revised and enlarged 
by Mary E. Moxcey in the interest of adolescent 
girlhood, have been reorganized and included in 
the following chapters. The copyrights of the 
series of pamphlets to which it belonged were 
purchased for the Department of Religious Edu- 
cation of Boston University in the year 1917. 

The writer wishes to express his deep conviction 
that a teacher or other adult leader who is respon- 
sible for the training of youth in any one of the 
three eras of adolescent unfolding should not con- 
fine his study to that particular era alone. In 
order to understand the majority of middle ado- 
lescent young people, it is absolutely necessary to 
have intelligent insight into the experiences and 
characteristics of normal later adolescence. 
Multitudes of boys and girls are socially and in- 
tellectually so precocious that at thirteen years of 
age, their interests are those that belong naturally, 
to middle adolescence. The spiritual life is un- 
usually fluid during adolescent years. Charts 
and classifications are ruthlessly violated. A 
brief survey of the entire period is necessary before 
one is prepared to face the practical problems of 
any one era within the period. 

The worker with adolescent young people 
should frequently remind himself of the fact that 



vi INTRODUCTION 

his task is not to hurry them along as rapidly as 
possible toward maturity. Our whole nation is 
suffering from the results of the over-stimulation 
of its youth. A few may need to be stimulated. 
Multitudes need influences that will retard their 
unfolding. Help the child to maintain a normal 
rate of development. He needs, most of all, to 
live a whole life at each stage of his advancement. 
It is first the blade, then the ear, and finally the 
full corn in the ear. Too many boys and girls are 
growing ears when they should be perfecting blades. 

In order to recognize these instances of precocity 
and of belated development, the adult leader or 
teacher must have intelligent familiarity with the 
normal experiences of the periods preceding and 
following the one to which his pupils naturally be- 
long. The first step in the task of self -preparation 
to render efficient service for early, middle, or 
later adolescents is the careful study of the entire 
period of adolescence. 

The author wishes to express his gratitude for 
the helpful suggestions and criticisms of the Rev. 
C. A. Myers, Rev. Frank H. Langford, Miss Mary 
E. Moxcey, Rev. James V. Thompson and Dr. 
Sidney A. Weston. 

Norman E. Richardson* 

Boston University, 
October 25, 1918. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter I. The Nature and Meaning of Ado- 
lescence 1 

The period of adolescence. Spiritual versus me- 
chanical methods of study. Adolescence and self- 
hood. The three epochs of development, early, 
middle, and later adolescence. Transition from 
childhood to youth; from youth to maturity. The 
fourfold challenge of adolescence. Some practical 
suggestions. Questions for study. 

Chapter II. Physical Development .......... 18 

The law of rhythm. Sex development. Need of 
objective interests and activities. Skill. Health 
habits. Physical growth during early adolescence. 
Development during middle adolescence. The later 
adolescent body. . Questions for study. 

Chapter III. Mental Development 34 

The parting of the ways, mental pitfalls of ado- 
lescence. How to control mental development. 
Keep open the channels of expression. Guard 
against over-stimulation. Mental benefits of a re- 
ligious faith. Emotional changes. A multitude of 
interests. Management of the emotions. The cul- 
ture of the will. Questions. 

Chapter IV. Social Development 56 

Childhood's Treasure House. Self -corrective ex- 
periences. Social development within the family. 

vii 



viii CONTENTS 

Social development through school experiences. The 
play group. Church school loyalty. Community 
loyalty. Social instincts. The friendship instinct. 
Moral awakening. Social management, "First 
loves," Co-operation. Questions. 



\ 



Chapter V. Religion as a Mode of Control in 

Adolescent Conduct . 76 

Control from without and from within. What 
is adolescent religion? Early adolescent religion. 
Middle adolescent religion. Its social aspects. 
Later adolescent religion. The fusing of patriotism 
and religion. Rationalizing one's religion. Ques- 
tions. 

Chapter VI. Ruling Motives 94 

Pride. The heartening influence of appreciation. 
Dissatisfaction with the commonplace. Hero-wor- 
ship. The girl's hero versus the boy % s hero. Ferti- 
lizing the imagination. Responsibility. A weekly 
allowance. The parent's gradual surrender of re^ 
sponsibility. The right to a wailing-post. Group 
loyalty. Chivalry. A life purpose. Combination 
of motives. Questions. 

Chapter VII. The Adolescent Prodigal 114 

u The prodigal. Juvenile delinquency. Types of 
offences. The age of delinquents. Their family and 
home conditions. School records of delinquents. 
Shall they be put to work? Shall we send him away 
to school? Shall we let him wander? Influences 
that will bring him home. Encouraging factors. 
Some practical suggestions. Results to be hoped for. 
Questions. 



CONTENTS ix 

Chapter VIII. Character Through Play In- 

terests and Activities 130 

The educative value of play. Its positive nature. 
The stupidity of attempted guidance through repres- 
sion. Group loyalty and team play. Social devel- 
opment through play. Nature of adolescent play. 
The ideal play program and organization for early 
adolescents. For middle adolescents. Play and 
recreation for later adolescent young people. Prac- 
tical suggestions. Questions. 

Chapter IX. Principles of Religious Educa- 
tion for Early Adolescence 149 

The law of the expanding life. The law of transi- 
tion. The law of responsibility for leisure-time ac- 
tivities. The law of the reading craze. The law of 
individual and group service. The law of the moral 
imagination. The law of conscience. The Jaw of 
repentance and confession. The law of church 
membership. The law of the fuller life. Ques- 
tions. 

Chapter X. Principles of Religious Education 
for Middle Adolescence 164 

The law of the integrating personality. The law of 
a single loyalty. The law of conversion. The law 
of adolescent mysticism. The law of ardent, organ- 
ized endeavor. The law of friendship and romance. 
The law of culture and restraint. The law of voca- 
tional specialization. The law of apprenticeship in 
leadership. The law of the sustained spiritual life. 
Questions. 



x CONTENTS 

Chapter XI. Principles of Religious Educa- 
tion for Later Adolescence 178 

The law of a completed adolescence. The law of 
differentiation. The law of worthy motives in life's 
great decisions. The law of a changed environment. 
The law of institutional loyalty. The law of leader- 
ship. The law of heroic service. The law of special- 
ized training. The law of rational supremacy. The 
law of a religious creed. Questions. 



CHAPTER I 

THE NATURE AND MEANING OF ADO- 
LESCENCE 

Adolescence is that part of life which lies be- 
tween childhood and adulthood. The first two 
dozen years of an individual's life are about equally 
divided between childhood and youth. Under 
most favorable conditions, the period of adoles- 
cence continues from the twelfth to the twenty- 
fourth years. It includes the very heart of life. 
Childhood looks forward to it and prepares for it. 
From it adulthood takes many of its permanent 
and important characteristics. This is the time 
when "a little good will go farther for good and a 
little evil for evil, than any other time in life. *' 

The Spiritual Versus the Mechanical Point 
of View 

In dealing with actual young people, the teacher 
or leader should guard against the error of attrib- 
uting to them, in a wholesale or arbitrary way, 
the characteristics which their years suggest. 
The rate of development differs with different 
individuals. Indeed, within the same individual, 
belated physical growth may be associated with 
mental precocity. Life is not wooden or mechan- 
2 



2 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

ical. It cannot be reduced to charts, tables, or 
fixed schedules. Each youth lives his own life, 
in his own way. He may or may not conform to 
what is considered normal or standard. His self- 
realization, not his conformity to a common stand- 
ard or a chart, is the aim of education. 

In the study of adolescence, the first requisite 
is the ability to think in these more spiritual, fluid 
terms. In order to put through successfully any 
system of training or program of instruction, it is 
necessary to know something besides the contents 
of the teacher's or leader's manual. Merely to 
spray young people with ideas regardless of what 
is going on in their minds or merely to enforce a 
system of training, no matter what happens to 
those who are supposed to be trained thereby, is 
to use the method of ignorance or stupidity. 

It is one thing to teach a Bible lesson, but an- 
other thing to teach a boy. To operate a certain 
system of training may or may not result in the 
training of a particular girl. An intelligent ap- 
preciation of growing, expanding, developing 
youth should go hand in hand with a thorough 
grasp of the lesson or the program. The fact 
that a teacher has reduced to oral English all of 
the ideas contained in a given lesson is not a guar- 
antee that those ideas will become controlling 
factors in the pupil's conduct. 



OF ADOLESCENTS S 

A careful study of adolescence from this spirit- 
ual point of view reveals the field wherein failures 
and successes actually take place. It helps the 
adult leader or teacher to appreciate the aim of a 
given system of training or of a series of lessons. 
It inspires confidence, stimulates originality, and 
makes independent action possible. It breaks the 
shackles of those who are slaves to the leader's 
manual. The one who understands life, as well as 
lessons, is more apt to proceed with unhesitating 
insight. He can make adaptations where they 
should be made. His work brings greater joy. 
He is able to measure what progress is being made. 
He catches the spirit of the scientist or adventurer. 
To one who appreciates it, adolescence is a great 
challenge. It is so plastic, so spiritual, so sacred 
that it is the very stuff, the raw material out of 
which the Kingdom of Heaven is made. 

Adolescence and Selfhood 

Adolescence is the period when selfhood unfolds. 
Youth is self-conscious. Physical changes, height- 
ened power of sense perception, social sensitive- 
ness, and rational activity all tend to stimulate 
self -awareness. Slowly through these years indi- 
viduality takes on definiteness of form and char- 
acter. Youth faces the inevitable responsibili- 
ties of self-control and self-direction, is forced to 



4 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

take a lively interest in the management of his 
own conduct. 

Young people live their own lives. Outside 
interference is apt to be resented if it ignores this 
newly discovered and highly prized selfhood. 
The right to originate plans independently of 
others is cherished. To accept or to reject the 
judgment of parents and teachers is looked upon 
as youth's high privilege. Practical questions of 
membership in social groups, of vocation of 
friendship, of public opinion, of individual beliefs 
of leadership, of personal appearance, of sex, of 
ambition, now press for answers. All these 
emphasize self. For light and guidance, youth 
looks within to his own conscience as well as with- 
out to some external voice of authority. Unlike 
the dependent and receptive child, youth is inde- 
pendent and creative. His face is set toward his 
own alluring future. 

Early, Middle and Later Adolescence 

There are three distinct periods or epochs of 
development within this central span of life. 
They are known as early, middle and later adoles- 
cence. Under normal conditions, these periods 
include the years twelve to fourteen, fifteen to 
seventeen and eighteen to twenty-four, respec- 
tively. Unfortunately, the rate and the order of un- 



OP ADOLESCENTS 5 

folding represented in this grouping of ye^rs is 
usually interfered with by conditions which are 
beyond the control of the youth himself. Years 
are not the true measure of life. Poverty, mis- 
fortune or a great calamity, such as war, is apt to 
abbreviate, otherwise modify, or even short-cir- 
cuit entirely any one of these eras of development. 
Boys and girls generally grow old before their 
time. The majority of young people do not have 
a completed adolescence. Unfortunately, the ma- 
turing process which should proceed slowly and 
gradually during these years, is usually brought 
to an abrupt close. Leaders of middle adoles- 
cent boys are apt to have later adolescent prob- 
lems to deal with. Leaders of middle adolescents 
should understand both early and later adoles- 
cence. 

These three periods of development might be 
likened to the building of a ship. In the first 
stage, the parts are assembled and bound together 
in various ways. Then comes the trial trip when 
these parts are "worked in" and the mechanical 
adjustments necessary to avoid friction and to 
prevent permanent weakness are made. Finally 
comes the maiden voyage with its proud record 
and prophecy of the future. The distinctive 
marks of any particular ship cannot be known 
until she has tried herself out. 



G THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

So it is with adolescence. First, the parts are 
assembled in rather irregular and hasty manner, 
then the critical period of integration takes place 
and this is followed by the measuring of one's 
strength and skill against the real economic and 
social opportunities of life. Thus, the boy be- 
comes a man and the girl, a woman. 

During early adolescence physical changes are 
most conspicuous. Middle adolescence is domi- 
nantly social. Later adolescence finds the rational 
faculties supreme. Social development proceeds 
throughout the three periods. Mental develop- 
ment culminates respectively in impulses, in sen- 
timents, and in opinions. The three modes of 
control are first, public or gang opinion; second, 
the influence of friends; and third, the reasoned 
judgments of real leaders. Loyalty, during the 
years twelve, thirteen and fourteen, is centered 
upon home, school and Church. The years fif- 
teen, sixteen and seventeen find these loyalties 
increasing in strength and to them is added loy- 
alty to the community. During the immediately 
following years may come loyalty to a new home 
together with an increasingly intelligent devotion 
to religious, civic and possibly educational insti- 
tutions. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 7 

The Transition from Childhood to Youth 

Writing of the suddenness with which the tran- 
sition is made from childhood to youth, Margaret 
Slattery describes a scene which took place in a 
school where she was teaching: 

"She was a beautiful, well-developed girl of 
thirteen. Her bright, eager face with its changing 
expression, was a fascination at all times. It 
seemed unusually earnest and serious that par- 
ticular morning as she stood waiting the opportun- 
ity to speak to me. She had asked to wait until 
the others had gone, and her manner as she hesi- 
tated even then to speak made me ask, 'Are you 
in trouble, Edith?' 

"'No, not exactly trouble — I don't know 
whether we ought to ask you, but all of us girls 
think — well, we wish we could have a mirror in 
the lockerroom. Couldn't we? It's dreadful to 
go into school without knowing how your hair 
looks or anything. ' 

"I couldn't help laughing. Her manner was 
so tragic that the mirror seemed the most impor- 
tant thing in the educational system just then. I 
said I would see what could be done about it, and 
felt sure that what 'all the girls' wanted could be 
supplied. She thanked me heartily and when she 
entered her own room, nodded her head in answer 
to inquiring glances from the other girls, 



8 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

"As I made a note of the request, I remembered 
the Edith of a year or more ago. Edith, whose 
mother found her a great trial; she didn't care 
how she looked! It was true. She wore her hat 
hanging down over her black braids, held on by 
the elastic band around her neck; she lost her 
ribbons continually, and never seemed to miss 
them. She was a good scholar, wide-awake, alert, 
always ready for the next thing. She loved to 
recite, and volunteered information generously. 
In games, she was the leader, and on the play- 
ground always unanimous choice for the coveted 
'it' of the game. She was never in the least 
self-conscious, and, as her mother had said, how 
she looked never seemed to occur to her. 

"And now, she came asking for a mirror. Her 
hair ribbons are always present and her hat se- 
curely fastened by hat-pins of hammered brass. 
She spends a good deal of time in school 'arrang- 
ing' her hair. Sometimes spelling suffers, some- 
times algebra. Before standing to recite, she 
carefully arranges her belt. Contrary to her 
previous custom, she rarely volunteers, although 
her scholarship is very good. If unable to give 
the correct answer, or when obliged to face the 
school, she blushes painfully. One day recently, 
when the class were reading 'As You Like It,' she 
sat with a dreamy look upon her sweet face, far, 



OF ADOLESCENTS 9 

far away from the eighth-grade class-room; could 
not find her place when called upon to read, and 
although confused and ashamed, lost it again 
within ten minutes." (Margaret Slattery, "The 
Girl in Her Teens," pages 1, 2, 3.) 

The Mother of Phillips Brooks, out of her own 
deep experience, once wrote: 

"There is an age when it is not well to follow or 
question your boy too closely. Up to that time} 
you may carefully instruct and direct him, you are 
his best friend; he is never happy unless the story 
of the day has been told; you must hear about his 
friends, his school; all that interests him must be 
your interest. Suddenly there, confidences cease; 
the affectionate son becomes reserved and silent; 
he seeks the intimate friendship of other lads; he 
goes out; he is averse to telling where he is going 
or how long he will be gone; he comes and goes 
silently to his room. 

"All this is a startling change to the mother, 
but it is also her opportunity to practice wisdom 
by loving and praying for and absolutely trusting 
her son. The faithful instruction and careful 
training during her early years, the son cannot 
forget; that is impossible. Therefore, trust not 
only your Heavenly Father, but your son. The 
period of which I speak appears to me to be one 
in which the boy dies and the man is born; his 



10 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

individuality rises up before him and he is dazed 
and almost overwhelmed by his first consciousness 
of himself. I have always believed that it was 
then that the Creator was speaking with my sons, 
and that it was good for their souls to be left alone 
with Him while I, their mother, stood trembling, 
praying and waiting, knowing that when the man 
was developed from the boy, I should have my 
sons again and there would be a deeper sympathy 
than ever between us. " 

The transition from later adolescence to adult- 
hood is greatly influenced by environment. The 
necessity of going to work, early marriage, or loss 
of parents, may plunge youth suddenly into the 
burden bearing of maturity. This fact is one of 
the tragedies of our civilization. Young people 
should take more time to mature mentally, socially 
and physically. The period of plasticity should 
be prolonged as far as possible. It takes time 
to find one's place in the social and economic 
world just as it takes time to discover oneself. 
In an age of high specialization, there is greater 
need of general preparation. Many a man has 
spent years regretting the fact that he might have 
had a better education or a broader outlook upon 
life. But he was in too great a hurry to take 
what he thought then was to be his place in the 
world. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 11 

President Butler's Summary 

The most outstanding characteristics of the first 
and second periods of adolescent life are thus 
summed up by Nicholas Murray Butler: 

' 'The marked characteristics of the pupil of 
secondary-school age are due to the fact that, as 
Rousseau puts it, we are born twice; the first time 
into existence, the second time into life; the first 
time as a member of the race, the second time as 
a member of the sex — in other words, they are due 
to the phenomena of adolescence. The physical 
and mental effects of this epoch in human life 
begin earlier and last longer than is sometimes 
supposed. They dominate the entire secondary- 
school period. Rapid growth and increase of 
nervous mental energy mark these years. Emo- 
tions, vague and disordered, displace the placidity 
of earlier likes. Ambitions, yearnings, desires 
are formulated crudely and for the first time. 
Introspection begins and a morbid self -conscious- 
ness is not infrequent. The future, hitherto al- 
most unthought of, becomes of great interest and 
importance, and overshadows the present. Ab- 
normally intense religious experiences and reflec- 
tions are common. The old and familiar tasks, 
occupations and games no longer suffice; the soul 
seems to overflow, as it were, and demands new 
and more difficult problems to occupy it and to 



12 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

absorb its activities. The higher thought proc- 
esses until now, latent, exhibit themselves in a 
variety of ways, and more formal and elaborate 
chains of inference supersede the reasoning from 
one particular instance to another that is so char- 
acteristic of the little child." (Nicholas M. But- 
ler, "The Meaning of Education," page 209-210.) 

The Four-Fold Challenge of Adolescence 

Adolescence presents a four-fold challenge. It 
is said of Jesus that : " He advanced in wisdom and 
stature and in favor with God and men." His 
education proceeded along four lines all combining 
to produce a symmetrical character. 

Mental powers unfold rapidly during these 
years. Imagination, memory, attention, skill, 
reason respond readily to the influences of educa- 
tion. 

Physically, this is a critical era of development. 
Permanent health habits are achieved or the op- 
portunity of realizing permanent health is lost. 
The power to play is likewise an achievement that 
is now possible. Sex organs mature and sex differ- 
ences are established. 

Religious changes are now made with relative 
ease and permanency. Religion is a matter of 
spontaneous interest. Some personal attitude 
toward God and the Church will be assumed. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 13 

Religious beliefs and sentiments are natural and 
inevitable. Careless indifference and studied 
hostility or intimate companionship and trustful 
obedience may become a permanent part of life. 
The religious preferences that are built up during 
childhood as a result of the influences of others 
are either ratified and personally appropriated or 
rejected as unworthy. The power to discover for 
oneself the spiritual messages of the Bible and the 
soul-renewing value of prayer and worship is real- 
ized during adolescence. Fundamental mistakes 
of loyalty can be corrected, through conversion, 
without the losses which similar experiences in 
later years entail. A philosophy of life which 
puts Jesus at the center can be formed with as 
great clearness and sincerity as one that exalts 
self to the place of supreme regard. Adoles- 
cence offers a supreme challenge to the religious 
educator. 

From the standpoint of moral and social educa- 
tion, adolescence is important because conscience, 
which has been forming gradually during child- 
hood, now begins to function; the opinions of 
one's peers are taken with increasing seriousness; 
the responsibility of independent moral self-direc- 
tion is taken up; personal ideals become more and 
more vivid; there is particular susceptibility to 
the influence of chums, and heroes, the adoree and 



14 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

the friend. Social relationships are now of con- 
scious vital concern. How to act with social ease 
and strength is the inescapable problem of adoles- 
cence. The approval or disapproval of others is 
sure to be taken to heart. One's own ways of 
acting are compared with those of others who are 
near at hand. It is painfully annoying to be odd. 
It is highly satisfying to be popular. Many psy- 
chological forces are at work that make youth 
morally plastic. The formation of character is 
the inevitable result of adolescent experience. The 
basis of institutional loyalties are now laid. 

Some Practical Suggestions 

The physical changes, the intellectual outreach- 
ing, the social stress, and the religious crises, alto- 
gether cause this to be a most unstable, misunder- 
stood and yet hopeful period. The youth now 
needs the sympathy, understanding and respect 
of adults as never before. The Psalmist said even 
of God: "Thy gentleness hath made me great." 

The quiet, comparatively stolid years of child- 
hood are over and the time for corporal punish- 
ment, scolding and nagging is past. The adoles- 
cent is not only ripening but hardening into the 
character which is to be his for life. The time has 
come to make the transition from management 
by an adult to that of self -management. 



OF ADOLESCENTS U 

In this period when the youth is never calm, 
the one who is leading him must always be calm. 
We can never afford to be disquieted when he is. 
Especially must we keep hopeful when he is in 
despair. At this age, when we are perpetually 
being annoyed by the superlatives, the shallow- 
ness, the moods, the unrestraint and the secretive- 
ness of youth, we must try, as Puffer reminds us, 
not only to remember how we ourselves once 
acted, but how we once felt. It seems incredible, 
but it is so, that we once had the same impulses. 
If we have forgotten, our parents haven't. 

Now when, as LeBaron Briggs wittily says, 
"The adolescent wants to behave like a child and 
be treated like a gentleman," we have to be prompt 
with our forgiveness of the sudden fickle tendencies 
for if we do not forgive him when he is sorry, then 
he will soon not be sorry and will not care to be 
forgiven. Next to trust in God, perhaps the 
chief virtue called for in parents and teachers and 
leaders, is a sense of humor. Next in commonness 
to the mistake of supposing that the members of 
our particular group or class are exceptionally 
brilliant is that of supposing that they are excep- 
tionally difficult. The chances are that they are 
neither. The fact is that all children of parts 
during this period aie at times anti-domestic, 
"Agin' the Government," forgetful of their duty 



16 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

to their parents, unappreciative of teachers, and 
sometimes apparently dull in affection. 

It is also the time for renewed hopefulness. 
They never were as near the water-shed that leads 
over to manliness and womanliness as now. They 
are also just about to become most enjoyable, for 
the first time in their lives becoming capable of 
being comrades on a level with their parents, 
teachers and leaders. The child is too busy dis- 
covering himself to appreciate the sacrifices that 
others are making in his behalf, but youth gradu- 
ally becomes appreciative and companionable. 
If treated with the respect which is his due, he 
enters readily into the joys and sorrows of his 
leaders. 

Questions for Individual and Class Study 

1. What portion of life is included in the period 
of adolescence? 

2. What aie the chief general characteristics of 
this period? 

3. Of what value is it to study the mental, 
social and religious aspects of adolescence? 

4. Into what three epochs is adolescence 
divided? 

5. Describe the transition from childhood to 
youth. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 17 

6. Why should the period of adolescence be 
prolonged as far as possible? * 

7. What harm would come to a young man's 
character if he were compelled to live on a lonely 
farm, in social isolation during the years twelve to 
twenty? 

8. How would a similar deprivation affect a 
girl? ^ 

9. What is the four-fold challenge of adoles- 
cence? 

10. Why is adolescence particularly important 
from the standpoint of moral and religious educa- 
tion? 

11. Why are young people of this age difficult 
to manage? 




CHAPTER II 
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 

The Law of Rhythm 

Within the entire span of adolescence there are 
three distinct types of physical growth. Follow- 
ing the period of later childhood, which is a time 
of relatively slow development, there are three or 
four years of very rapid but uneven growth. 
When a boy begins to "shoot up," he shows the 
unmistakable signs of entering physical adoles- 
cence. The annual rate of increase in height 
usually is greatest during the fourteenth to the 
sixteenth years. 

This period of accelerated growth is followed by 
one in which the parts that have increased in size 
are adjusted to each other. The rate of develop- 
ment is now slower and the unity or integrity of 
the body is being established. 

Then comes the later period of final maturation 
and "baptism of power. " All the different parts 
have reached their mature size; they have been 
"worked in" so that they are adjusted to each 
other, and now comes the "final invoice of energy." 

Physical growth comes on in waves. It is 
characterized by seasons of pause, when one 

18 



OF ADOLESCENTS 19 

feels a sense of power, alternating with others 
of acceleration marked by lassitude, often mis- 
named "laziness." Growth, therefore, is in ac- 
cordance with the law of rhythm. During the 
period when pure growth or increase in mere 
bulk or size is rapid, development or organiza- 
tion is relatively slow and when development, 
particularly, is taking place, the rate of increase 
in size is retarded. Later "childhood and middle 
adolescence are periods of rapid development but 
relatively slow growth. Early adolescence is a 
time of very rapid growth as later adolescence 
is the period of rapidly expanding energy or 
capacity for exertion. When energy is no longer 
needed for growth, it tends to go out into work 
and play. 

At twelve years of age, the normal boy weighs 
about seventy-seven pounds; at fifteen, one hun- 
dred and seven. During this period and the first 
half of the next, the acceleration of growth is 
seen in his increased height as during the years 
fifteen to seventeen or eighteen, it is seen in a 
rapid increase in weight. This latter gain is 
about forty per cent. The girl's acceleration in 
weight comes one year earlier than in the boy. At 
twelve, a girl has two-thirds of her weight at 
twenty years. At fifteen, nine-tenths. A boy's 
height at twelve is normally fifty-five inches; at 



20 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

fifteen, it is sixty-three inches. A boy gains 
eleven per cent in height from twelve to fourteen. 
At twelve he has four-fifths of his adult height; at 
fifteen, nine-tenths. At twelve the girl is one inch 
taller than the boy, but during the following four 
years, the boy will overtake her in height. (Con- 
sult Tyler's " Growth and Education.") 

Sex Development 

By far the most profound physical changes are 
these which take place with the maturing of the 
sex functions. These changes are not confined to 
the rapid growth and development of the sex 
organs. There are internal secretions from newly 
matured glands that cause chemical changes to 
take place in every part of the body. Masculine 
and feminine qualities are imparted to muscles 
and nervous system. In addition to the increased 
energy, skill and strength, power to resist disease, 
and a quickening or sensitizing of all the organs of 
sense perception, there are subtle qualities that 
distinguish the sexes, giving to each its individual- 
ity and charm. 

With boys, there is a kind of muscle-intoxica- 
tion that demands violent forms of exercise. 
Girls, instinctively are afraid of physical exertion 
th&t leads to the point of complete exhaustion. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 21 

They are more apt to hoard their strength. They 
are less aggressive than boys. 

Sex development is due to the rapid multiplica- 
tion of "reproduction cells" or "germ plasm" 
which lie dormant in the body until one or two 
years before puberty, is reached. This sudden 
multiplication takes place during early adolescence 
— the time of rapid physical growth. With the 
arrival of puberty, physical middle adolescence is 
reached and the sex organs function naturally. 
In all of thesd changes, girls are about one year in 
advance of boys of the same age. 

It is the duty of parents to explain to their 
adolescent boys and girls the meaning of these 
changes and to point out how vitally they are 
related to the fluctuations of feelings, the ebb and 
flow of physical vitality, and the«general restless- 
ness so characteristic of this period.* It is of great 
value, mentally, to know that these strange feel- 
ings are not uncommon or unnatural and that 
despair concerning self is unwarranted. 

Need of Objective Interests and Activities 

At this time, when the senses are more keen 
than ever before in their reaction to color, sound 
and taste, when the love of beauty in nature allies 
itself to the love of human beauty, when there is 
a mental awakening almost every day to some- 



22 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

thing that has always been seen or known but 
never appreciated, we may use the body as never 
before to help the soul upon its lonely way. 
"Much despondency and sense of sin" even, as 
Irving King reminds us, "is no doubt due to phys- 
ical causes." And just here his advice is espe- 
cially good, when he urges that we cure the intro- 
spection that is due to the new sensitiveness and 
consciousness of the flesh by giving the youth 
surroundings that are especially cheerful in tone 
and that furnish the stimulus to abundant and 
vigorous physical exercise. It is as true of girls as 
of boys that "He should have his attention turned 
outwardly as much as possible, cultivating inter- 
ests in active, overt enterprises with other people 
and avoiding the giving of attention to his own 
physical and mental states." 

Here is where athletics, wisely administered, 
come to our rescue. The enthusiasm for personal 
prowess and for maintaining the glory of the 
school becomes a passion which, while not worthy 
of remaining as a life-purpose, nevertheless often 
lifts youth above gross vices, precludes from mor- 
bid day-dreaming and tides him over to more 
serious interests. Many a young person is being 
kept in high school and college to-day by the 
desire to be "on the team," while unconsciously 
to himself he is ripening more serious purposes. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 23 

The heroic not only in relation to athletics but in 
relation to nature is helping here. 

This is the time for parents and leaders to en- 
courage in girls not merely ladylike nature-study 
but camping, sailing, tramping. Now young per- 
sons respond to the sturdy zeal of old Ulysses 

"That ever with a frolic welcome took 
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed 
Free hearts, free foreheads . . . 
One equal temper of heroic hearts,' 

. . strong in will 
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." 

In these days of bodily irritability, while he 
takes the most careful watch-care concerning his 
child's bodily development, the adult leader en- 
deavors to overlook minor outbreaks and to con- 
cede gracefully as many of the smaller issues as 
possible. Everything that annoys us is not of 
equal significance, and the wise leader, like a 
strategist, employs his heavy artillery only in an 
emergency. In order to keep the confidence of 
young people, especially of girls, the mother must 
be flexible. Mrs. Frances M. Ford wisely says: 

"She must give way in some of the little things 
in order to strengthen her position in the greater 
matters to be decided, and to turn the argument 
around, I believe that if she shows her sympathy 



24 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

and affection and understanding, morning, noon, 
and night, in respect to these little things, she will 
find herself quite able to cope with the larger 
ones and she will come out ahead." 

The one who has the immediate charge of ado- 
lescent young people should guard against the 
danger of their over-drawing their bank account 
of physical energy. He should also try to con- 
tinue a somewhat steady regimen of food, exercise, 
sleep, for these unsteady spirits in order to estab- 
lish a good constitution and save them from be- 
coming physically bankrupt. 

Now is just the time when fond parents dis- 
cover an unsuspected talent for music or art in 
their daughters and insist upon adding practice 
onto the already overloaded hours. This, together 
with parties and the theatre, is pretty nearly the 
end of some young folks, the drain of energy show- 
ing itself in a lack of serious attention to matters 
of vital concern. The old adage, — "Nine hours 
of sleep and a clean conscience, " is not a bad one. 

While too much and too intense social life is 
fatiguing, we cannot, however, deny the fact that 
excitement in a moderate degree is expansive to 
the soul of a youth, somewhat as crying is to the 
lungs of a baby. Yet we ought to be able to limit 
the social life of high school young folks chiefly to 
Friday evenings. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 25 

Still further, the youth may be taught to take 
advantage of the high tides to get out on new 
levels of thought and action; to start desired 
habits when the energy is at flood. 

Skill 

By the time adolescence is reached, "the brain 
has attained practically its full size and weight. 
The latter additions are mainly in the association 
areas, where a few more grams of substance, de- 
veloped just where it is most efficient, may add 
vastly to the mental power. The sensory and 
motor areas are fully matured. Improvement is 
now to be expected, mainly in quickness and pre- 
cision of movement and in complexity of action 
of the finer muscles of wrist, hand and fingers." 
(Tyler's "Growth and Education," page 180.) 

With larger and smaller muscles now developed 
and the brain having reached full size and weight, 
there is an instinctive yearning for those physical 
activities which require the correlation of muscu- 
lar movements, that is, skill. Games with their 
specific rules; campcraft, with its varied and at- 
tractive list of necessities and achievements; 
athletics, with their records and standards all 
make a vigorous appeal to youth. The use of 
canoe paddle, axe, baseball bat, running shoes, or 



26 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

snowshoes adds greatly to the zest and thrill of 
physical activity. 

Health Habits 

The dependence of physical growth and devel- 
opment upon activity, whether work or play, is 
absolute. The difference between an athlete and 
an invalid may be the difference between the 
results of activity and inactivity. Physical well- 
being depends directly upon the circulation of 
the blood, action of the lungs, the ready digestion 
of food and ability to throw off all waste material. 
All of these physical processes are stimulated by 
wholesome physical activities. Health — that pri- 
mary consideration — that boon which is of even 
greater importance than an education, can be 
built up and sustained only by keeping those 
vital organs fit to do their work. When they 
become irregular and unreliable, health is endan- 
gered. 

Health may become a permanent possession 
through the building up of habits which stabilize 
and regulate the actions of the vital physical 
organs. There are desirable habits of breathing, 
personal carriage, eating, sleeping, recreation, 
bathing, excretion, which can be fastened upon 
life and most easily and securely during adoles- 
cence. This matter is worthy of the most serious 



OF ADOLESCENTS 9ft 

and painstaking consideration. There is much 
practical wisdom in the "KYB O" adage, keep, 
your bowels open. 

Physical Growth During Early Adolescence 

The years, twelve, thirteen, fourteen and in 
many cases, fifteen, constitute a period of rapid 
but uneven growth. This growing power, however, 
is not distributed evenly throughout the body. 
Bones may increase in length more rapidly than the 
muscles attached to them. In the muscles thus 
stretched, unduly, growing pains are felt. When 
the muscles become relatively longer than the 
bones, awkwardness, embarrassment and loose- 
ness of carriage result. The irregular growth of 
some cities is not unlike what is taking place in 
the early adolescent body. Rapid expansion 
takes place, first in one direction and then in 
another. 

The period of accelerated growth of the heart, 
digestive organs and lungs begins at about the 
fourteenth year. If the other parts of the body 
have already had one or two years of rapid en- 
largement, the danger of over-exertion is readily 
seen. These organs need the stimulation that 
comes from wholesome exercise in order to carry 
the excessive burden resulting from this lack of 
balance. Every period of rapid physical growth 



28 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

is also a time of physical restlessness. But ex- 
cessive strain must now be carefully avoided, at 
least until a proper balance is once more estab- 
lished. 

The most important physical needs of early 
adolescence are good health, plenty of nourish- 
ing food served in appetizing ways; frequent, 
varied, regular, and pleasurable out-door exercise; 
as much sleep as nature demands; absolute free- 
dom from unhygienic conditions; work that is 
suitable in view of the greater amount of energy 
and of the danger of excessive strain; protection 
against abnormal social demands, school require- 
ments, and precocious vocational specialization. 
There is no substitute for a home environment 
that is permeated with intelligent sympathy and 
that guards against physical irregularities. 

Development During Middle Adolescence 

After two or three years of this rapid, uneven 
growth and lack of balance, a re-adjustment takes 
place which is accompanied by a new sense of 
energy and power. A new delight in motion and 
sensation is awakened. These form the basis of 
some of the physical conditions that obtain during 
the middle years of the adolescent period. There 
is a consciousness of new passions and powers 
which is sometimes overwhelming. 



OF ADOLESCENTS £9 

From the physiological point of view, the years 
fifteen, sixteen and seventeen are critical. The 
instability of the preceding period disappears. 
Now the settling down process is seen. The result 
is that permanent physical habits and conditions 
are being determined. The rate of growth is 
lower than in the preceding years. The parts are 
now becoming adjusted to each other. The youth 
is now finding himself, physically. 

Every new machine has a period — after its 
parts have been assembled — when it is "tried out" 
to see if the parts work together smoothly, each 
one doing its full share of work. Not until the 
"try out" can it be ascertained just what the 
power of the machine will be. Middle adolescence 
is the time of physiological "try out." It may 
now be discovered that there is one weak organ. 
Friction or disturbance will develop at that point. 
The other organs have to adjust themselves to 
this condition thus lowering the vitality of the 
whole body. 

This experience of adaptation and testing, when 
the physical integrity of the entire body is being 
determined, may be gradual and prolonged, or it 
may be of very short duration and quite sudden. 
It is critical because of the possible permanent 
injury that comes as a result of the prolongation 
of a fundamental weakness in the mutual adjust- 



SO THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

ment of the parts. An engine may be perma- 
nently crippled if, during the "try out "one part is 
allowed to rattle about when it should have been 
firmly fixed and doing its own work. For a boy 
or girl to go through the years fifteen, sixteen, and 
seventeen, carrying the burden of some physical 
weakness, is serious. It may result in permanent 
disability or low vitality. The habit of health 
and one hundred per cent physical efficiency is the 
most fundamentally important achievement dur- 
ing middle adolescence. The permanent con- 
quest of nervousness, irritability, unreliability, 
instability, depends very largely upon the mode 
of life during this period of final adjustment. 

During these years, increase in the size and 
strength of the heart is especially noteworthy. 
Before and during early puberty, it is relatively 
small. But during senior high school age, its 
increase is ^Jpout sixty per cent. This growth is 
more rapid in girls than in boys. The arteries, 
during this period, are relatively slow in expanding, 
hence, a higher blood pressure. The increase in 
lung capacity, especially with boys, is very marked. 
Red corpuscles multiply rapidly and thus contrib- 
ute greatly to physical health and vigor. There 
is a general sensitizing of the organs of touch, 
sight, hearing, smelling and tasting. 

According to some authorities, the physical 



OF ADOLESCENTS 31 

vitality of girls does not increase at as high rate 
during the years fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen, as 
it does during the previous three years. The 
average annual rate of increase during early adoles- 
cence is about nine and three-quarters per cent. 
While during middle adolescence, it is about five 
and one-quarter per cent. At sixteen years of 
age, the annual rate of increase in vital capacity 
is the highest, namely, nearly sixteen per cent. At 
seventeen, it is less than twelve per cent and at 
eighteen, it is only about five per cent. This 
decrease in the rate of vital capacity should not 
be confused with decreases in vital capacity. 
Throughout middle adolescence vital capacity 
actually increases. 

The Later Adolescent Body 

Under normal conditions, when the eighteenth 
year is reached, the vitality of the*body is no 
longer used up in growth or in the adaptation of 
the parts to each other. "Growth fatigue and 
mental ferment" disappear. A maximum of en- 
ergy is therefore released and is turned into voca- 
tional, social, athletic, intellectual and other chan- 
nels. National and international athletic records 
are now made. The muscular system is possessed 
of its full power and it responds readily and accu- 
rately to the mind. 



32 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

With many, this is the period of reintegration 
due to necessary adaptation to some type of voca- 
tion or permanent responsibility. Great skill 
along these particular lines is achieved, during a 
relatively short period of time. There is increased 
capacity to make adjustments. 

The health habits built up in former years 
should now be carefully guarded. There are 
limits of endurance, deprivation, strain, beyond 
which one cannot go without facing appropriate 
penalties. Young people should learn to be con- 
tent, having done the reasonable thing. In these 
cases where intensely specialized forms of work are 
taken up, appropriate forms of recreation should 
be^maintained in order to preserve the physical 
integrity of the body. No mortgage should be 
placed upon either mind or body during these 
years. The sense of power, keen delight in com- 
petition, joy in extraordinary achievements and 
vigorous altruistic impulses, all occasion a word of 
serious warning. The Greek philosopher was 
wise who said, "Avoid extremes." 

Questions fot Individual and Group Study 

1. Explain the law of rhythm that is seen in 
the physical growth and development of adoles- 
cents. 

%. Why is it important for early adolescent 



OF ADOLESCENTS 33 

young people to understand their own sex devel- 
opment? 

3. Why should they have interests and activi- 
ties that take their attention away from them- 
selves? 

4. Of what value is the emphasis upon skill? 

5. What are some of the health habits that 
should be built up during these years? 

6. Describe the physical growth of early adoles- 
cence. 

7. How would you characterize the middle 
adolescent development? 

8. How does the later adolescent body differ 
from that of the preceding three years? 

9. Of w^hat special value are group and team 
games? Campcraft? Handicraft? Woodcraft? 



CHAPTER III 
MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 

The Parting of the- Ways. 

Adolescence is by far the most critical period in 
the entire mental life of the individual. For 
many, it represents the parting of the ways — one 
leading to natural vigor, intensity of applica- 
tion, normal or continued growth, and keen- 
ness of interest; the other, to premature de- 
terioration of the mind's power and discon- 
tinued growth. The conditions out of which 
permanent mental soundness or weakness arise 
have now arrived and usually are such as to yield 
to the influences which parents, teachers and lead- 
ers can control. 

It is especially during middle adolescence that 
the mental power is heavily taxed. Life purposes 
are not yet stable. Various moods come and go. 
Excitability is at its height. There is unusually 
sensitive appreciation of all sensory experiences. 
Impulses are numerous and vigorous. The future 
calls loudly and ambitions are stirred. For sup- 
port in forming judgments or in deciding what is 
right and wrong, the mind no longer leans on par- 
ents — as it once did. Persons, especially friends, 

34 



OF ADOLESCENTS 35 

who differ in opinion, cannot be treated with in- 
difference. The wear and tear of opinionativeness 
and intolerance upon the mind is great. That 
superb moral achievement — self-control — has not 
yet been fully realized. In the midst of greatly 
varied and even antagonistic influences, every day 
is a hard day when the mind is passing through the 
experience of middle adolescence. (See Stedman, 
"Mental Pitfalls of Adolescence," page 9.) 

Not infrequently the profound physical changes 
and these excessive mental burdens that take 
place during early and middle adolescence consti- 
tute too great a strain upon the mind. It begins 
to act like an over-worked engine. From this 
point onward it may tend to lose rather than gain 
power. The symptoms of this early loss of mental 
vitality vary greatly but they should be under- 
stood by all those adult leaders having adolescent 
boys and girls in charge. 

It is when these symptoms first appear that it 
is easiest to remove the causes and prevent serious 
consequences. In the more mild cases, a general 
apathy or indifference is seen. The days are spent 
in indolence. Interests that ought to make a 
strong appeal fail to awaken a sense of value or 
the usual response. Social sensitiveness is so 
great that one shrinks from accepting invitations 
or appearing in society. Life becomes aimless. 



36 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

Capacity for effort is lacking. Under injudicious 
or harmful treatment, such individuals drift to- 
ward delinquency such as is seen in the tramp, 
the crank, the mild criminal or the prostitute. 
"The 'hobo' class is largely recruited from these 
mental derelicts." (Stedman, "Mental Pitfalls 
of Adolescence," page 5.) 

Premature deterioration of mental power is 
found especially among adolescents who have 
what might be called the "shut-in" temperament. 
Physicians say that many instances have been 
found among those who have had "no natural 
tendency to be open and to get into contact with 
people and things about them, who were reticent 
and exclusive and could not adapt themselves to 
situations, who were hard to influence and often 
sensitive and stubborn, but the latter more in a 
passive than an active way. They showed little 
interest in what went on and frequently did not 
participate in the pleasures, cares and pursuits of 
those about them; although often sensitive they 
did not let others know what their mental conflicts 
were; did not unburden their minds, were shy and 
had a tendency to live in a world of fancies. " 

As soon as such a young person is conscious of 
his social weakness, or feels that he is losing his 
former self-confidence or self-reliance, the nervous 
strain is greatly increased. Shame, sorrow, dis- 



OF ADOLESCENTS 37 

couragement may become an almost permanent 
mental state. Only now and then is the spell 
broken. The sense of being "odd because of per- 
sonal inferiority is very hard to bear. Any one 
thus afflicted is already on the road that leads 
finally to chronic sleeplessness, abnormal irrita- 
bility or permanent dementia. 

How to Control Mental Development 

In order to prevent such disastrous consequences 
and to turn the mind, during the critical years, in 
the direction of gradually increasing power, the 
first concern is with physical conditions. Sir 
Thomas Clouston, the famous Scotch psychiatrist, 
offers the following advice: "Build up the bone and 
fat and muscle by means known to us during the 
period of growth and development. Make fresh 
air the breath of life of the young. Develop lower 
centers rather than higher where there is a bad he- 
redity. Do not cultivate, rather restrain, the im- 
aginative and artistic faculties and sensitiveness 
and the idealisms generally in cases where such tend 
to appear too early and too keenly. They will be 
rooted in a better brainand body basis if they come 
later. Cultivate and insist upon an orderliness 
and method in all things. The weakly neurotic 
is always disorderly , unbusiness-likeand unsystem- 
atic. Fatness, self-control, and orderliness are 



38 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

the three most important qualities for them to 
aim at." 

To build up " a reserve fund of bodily nutrition" 
— which is a fundamental principle of mental 
management — involves regular, wholesome physi- 
cal exercise. Sedentary habits do not yield" husky" 
appetites. Good eating habits should be main- 
tained at any cost. It is careless indifference to 
the nutrition of the body that has caused many 
young people to become irritable, anaemic, easily 
fatigued, and to crave stimulants. "Hastily 
snatched breakfasts and lunches of sweets and 
pastry," and meals wholly neglected have a direct 
bearing upon mental condition. 

Keep Open the Channels of Expression 

A second principle of management may be 
summed up in the words: Keep open the channels 
of expression and communication. Adolescence 
is a time of increased social sensitiveness. Among 
certain types of individuals this natural sensitive- 
ness becomes excessive and leads to shyness, diffi- 
dence, painful self-awareness, morbid fear, a 
shrinking from social contacts, exaggerated notions 
of the importance of trifling faults or mistakes, 
embarrassment on occasions that call for self- 
confidence, or timidity in the presence of social 
opportunities. The result is that gradually the 



OF ADOLESCENTS 39 

power of communication or of self-expression is 
lost. The mind closes in upon itself. Its win- 
dows become darkened. It feeds upon itself in- 
stead of upon the thoughts of others. Incidents 
that should be forgotten, constantly torment and 
annoy. A mental condition results which causes 
them to be misunderstood. This leads to still 
further embarrassment and hesitation in meet- 
ing others. 

Before these conditions reach an advanced stage 
membership in a social group, participation in 
social activities, the discovery of friends or com- 
panions, and the establishment of intimate per- 
sonal relations with a hero or adoree are of inestim- 
able value. Sympathy and encouragement, to- 
gether with sincere appreciation go a long way 
toward lifting the adolescent mind out of this pit- 
fall. Approachability, conversational power and 
social ease may be difficult lessons for this type 
of individual to learn, but they are learned through 
objective interests and self-expression supported 
by a social motive and in a proper social en- 
vironment. 

The value of active interest in woodcraft, the 
making of collections of various kinds, exercises 
that develop the power of observation and appre- 
ciation, handicraft, art and industrial crafts can 
hardly be over-estimated. To achieve power 



40 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

of expression through practice in the use of oral 
English is one of the most wholesome and stimu- 
lating means of mental development during these 
years. 

Guard against Over-Stimulating 

A third principle is: avoid the over-stimulation 
of those who are mentally precocious. The minds 
that are naturally most gifted are apt to be most 
sensitive to influences that quicken activity. 
"Over-study, of itself rarely productive of mental 
disorder, causes many a delicate girl or lad of the 
' shut-in' type to succumb to mental disease, 
when poor circumstances increase the struggle for 
education" (Stedman, "Mental Pitfalls of Adoles- 
cence," page 13) . Under the strain of competition 
or fear of public humiliation, or desire to please 
a particular friend, or abnormal interest of any 
kind, such young people are apt to over-exert 
themselves. The results are serious. This mind 
is not yet seasoned to such hardships. The foun- 
dations for prolonged, intense application — 
especially in an atmosphere of anxiety — have not 
yet been laid. Therefore, protection from over- 
stimulation becomes imperative. 

Mental Benefits of Religious Faith 

A fourth principle is well expressed in that 
favorite hymn of adolescents: "What a friend we 



OF ADOLESCENTS 41 

have in Jesus." The one who does not have a 
vital, personal faith in God carries burdens of 
pain, of grief, of a sense of guilt or of weakness 
which at times may seem almost unbearable. 
Often the mental annoyer is such that it is impos- 
sible to share it with any human friend. To know 
that He understands and really cares brings relief. 
When the adolescent sings "What a fellowship, 
what a joy divine! Leaning on the everlasting 
arms," he is describing what actually takes place. 

This vital, personal religion has saved multi- 
tudes of adolescent minds from yielding to de- 
spondency and fear. Prayer is intensely social. It 
keeps open the channels of expression. It helps 
the mind to turn away from self. To realize that 
Jesus carried burdens and sorrows heavier and 
more poignant than ones own helps one to place 
a true value upon what, in reality, are relatively 
meager hardships. To believe that the universe, 
at heart, is kindly disposed, that the heart of the 
Eternal is wonderfully kind awakens confidence 
and trust. Faith in God helps one to overcome 
the world. 

The most dangerous and often damaging form 
of religion to which the adolescent young people 
of America have ever been exposed is that which 
teaches them to ignore or to deny the reality of 
what actually does exist. An irritating memory or 



42 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

a permanent source of melancholia or other mental 
or physical weakness may become buried and con- 
tinue to injure the mind and body because its 
reality was not acknowledged and its power an- 
nihilated through confession and faith. 

Emotional Changes 

The emotional life now undergoes great and sud- 
den changes. Instead of the apparent stolidity of 
childhood, the mental energies, especially when 
physical growth and vitality are near their flood- 
tide, are most lively. The young person craves 
the intensifying of personal life even to the point 
of intoxication. He wants to be out nights and to 
be entertained constantly. He desires to live in a 
larger world than that which he sees around him. 
His parents seem to him, as Tyler says, to know 
"very little of the glories of life and of this exceed- 
ingly good world." 

The result is that the ideals and activities of 
the home often appear insignificant and hum- 
drum, and he desires to break away from parental 
authority. He is self-assertive because, for the 
first time, he is consciously becoming an individual 
in the fuller sense. While on this quest for him- 
self, he often feels a joyous defiance and engages 
in wild larks, injurious habits and reckless dis- 
regard of law, such conduct often gets him into 



OF ADOLESCENTS 43 

trouble. Because of his insistence upon individ- 
uality he seems to us to be absolutely selfish. 

To the adult, this restlessness often appears to 
be simply contrariness. The youth likes at this 
time to have all his doings taken for granted. He 
hates to be questioned. Sometimes he seems to 
enjoy giving the impression of having done some- 
thing contrary to law or propriety by the roman- 
tic care he takes to cover up some trifling adven- 
ture. And if the youth be not bumptious, then 
morbidness (among girls) or shyness or shame and 
the inability to express one's self (among both boys 
and girls) in turn causes him to be misunderstood. 

The characteristic emotion of this period is am- 
bition. The youth is making building-plans for his 
whole life. He has an unlimited sense of power; 
nothing seems impossible. It is at times surprising 
to him that everyone else does not recognize 
his ability or agree with his judgments. There is 
a notable difference between the ambitions of this 
period and those of the preceding one. The young 
child was ambitious for the immediate present, for 
something he wants to do at the moment; the 
adolescent begins to be ambitious for the future, 
for what he is to be. 

In these early years, there is a paradoxical mix- 
ing of perspective in these ambitions. The future 
for which plans are made is but a little distant — 



44 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

"when I am a man," or a woman, will be here in 
five or six years. But there is little allowance for 
progress after that estate is reached. Not yet can 
the boy and girl see the years that lie beyond 
twenty-five or thirty except as that indistinct and 
mercifully fore-shortened state of "old age!" But 
as the middle teens are entered, comes experience 
of what it costs to carry out plans, and while the 
young child was fully self-sufficient, the adolescent, 
at time, begins to doubt his sufficiency. 

So even the feeling of ambition has its setbacks. 
The eager young spirit enjoys day dreams, from 
the unfounded ecstasy of which he often awakens 
to bitter disillusions. His lack of judgment and 
self-control leads him into many costly experi- 
ments. Never were his self-expressions so enthu- 
siastic — or so clumsy. His lack of adjustment 
with his social circle sometimes humiliates him and 
causes him to feel hostile. He is also sometimes 
haunted by fears due to ignorance of his physical 
nature or to misinformation which has come to 
him from surreptitious sources. 

Not only is the youth distressed by his mistakes 
and misunderstandings, but sometimes he be- 
comes discouraged. During some one of the lulls 
in his growth referred to above, he suddenly feels 
a lack of physical or mental energy. At times, too, 
his old childish self seems to return. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 45 

A certain adolescent boy confided to his father 
his purpose to commit suicide. The wise parent 
listened to the confession calmly and asked for 
the reason. This youth had just come to a sud- 
den and full realization of the competitive basis 
of society and felt his inability to make his way 
with the whole world against him. 

But underneath all this apparent fickleness, 
there is what Dr. G. Stanley Hall calls "the pro- 
founder drift of his will," referring to the fact that 
underneath the surface billows or changing in- 
terests there is being felt the deep swell of a tidal 
life-purpose. 

The adolescent girl may or may not be so ob- 
viously in a state of revolution as the boy, but her 
sense of being too great for her straightened and 
unsympathetic , environment is as intense. She 
begins earlier to pay attention to the other sex. 
For most girls of fourteen to seventeen it is a 
necessity of a life to be paid attention to. 

For this reason she takes much thought as to 
what she shall put on. There are great individual 
differences as to the preferred source of attention. 
Some specialize in preventing the teacher's life 
from becoming monotonous, some prefer the 
approval of adults for their dazzling scholastic 
achievements, and some have no other desire than 
to be surrounded by boys — and be the envy of 



46 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

other girls. Concealment of the larger, adven- 
turous life has advantages over open conflict, and 
the concealment itself adds a glamor to adven- 
ture. So she is now in the period of escapades and 
the watchful mother should be doubly vigilant. 
Now is the time, as the almanac says, to look out 
for "dates" at the post office or library, "picking 
up" attractive male acquaintances, church flirta- 
tions, etc. So much for the background. 

A Multitude of Interests 

This is also the time of an unlimited number of 
interests. There is almost no subject in which it 
is impossible to interest an adolescent eagerly. 
His sense of potency is accompanied by the keen- 
est and broadest intellectual curiosity. Yet such 
is the fear of being either ridiculed or patronized, 
that both in and out of school, the youth's reserve 
often causes him to seem absolutely indifferent to 
topics toward which he feels the most intense curi- 
osity. This strange reserve often creates an es- 
trangement between himself and his parents and 
teachers. The resulting estrangement in turn may 
be intensified by the fact that one interest suc- 
ceeds another rapidly, and entirely displaces it. 
Naturally, the parent feels that the child is fickle 
and has no continuity of purpose. 

Because of his inability to see the practical re^ 



OF ADOLESCENTS 47 

lations of new intellectual subjects to his future 
and partly because of the poor adjustment of the 
school curriculum to his interests and needs, many 
a high-school pupil now loses enthusiasm for his 
text-books, becomes inattentive, fails in applica- 
tion to his studies, hates school. Let us parents 
and leaders not think of ourselves more highly 
than we ought to think, however, and be blaming 
the school teachers too much. 

"It will probably never be an easy task for the 
school," says a sensible educator, "with its hours 
of impersonal mental application, to compete with 
the sex interests, the sporting interests, and the 
great complex of other social interests which make 
such an appeal to the adolescent. What a natu- 
ral pull there is away from the humdrum! How 
can a boy who is f eeling all the raptures and pangs 
of a first love hold himself down to the bromidic 
charms of Sir Roger de Coverley or to figure out 
on paper the velocity of falling bodies when he is 
all in a quiver to catch a three-bagger in the south 
field." 

Many now want to go to work, partly, to escape 
school and partly to earn money for their pleasures. 
Stealing, when it occurs now, is usually for this 
latter reason. With boys, especially, a spirit of 
wanderlust is awakened. 



48 THE] RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

Management of the Emotions 

In the emotional realm the problem is how to 
help the youth to organize and interpret his chang- 
ing experiences and to meet his doubts frankly and 
cheerfully, being patient with his sudden aversions 
and equally sudden fancies, using praise much 
more generously than. blame. While there is never 
a time when he prizes good advice so little as during 
this period, he is so subservient to public opinion 
that he is grateful for all information concerning 
social usages, and usually responds. It must be 
remembered that a very important preliminary to 
doing right is to know what is right, and we, 
perhaps, expect too much in this direction. Skilful 
indeed is that adult leader who can avoid "the 
high pulpit method" and succeed once in a while 
in slipping some counsel over the unsuspecting 
youth. 

Especially is this true of girls. "A boy," says 
G. Stanley Hall, "has some self-knowledge, a girl 
understands very little of herself or of the motives 
of her conduct, for her life is more ruled by deep 
unconscious instincts. Her self -consciousness is 
reflected knowledge others have of her." And so 
he is deeply right when he adds: "Perhaps she 
needs just now a mother-confessor." 

But she needs also plenty of vigorous muscular 



OF ADOLESCENTS 49 

activity. A sufficient amount of automatic emo- 
tion is furnished by the changes going on within 
the body during this period of rapid growth. The 
only way to keep these feelings from "blocking 
up" and causing involuntary disturbances of the 
heart, stomach, intestines, and other vital organs 
is to direct them toward the voluntary muscles. 
Formation of vigorous and well-organized asso- 
ciations between "feelings" and the purposeful 
direction of energy during the earlier years of 
adolescence is of the greatest importance. Serious 
emotional difficulties are thus avoided. The prob- 
lems of wholesome later development into woman- 
hood are thus greatly reduced. In this way, girls 
learn how, with a quiet and efficient mind, to 
approach practical tasks and carry them through 
to completion. 

We need to learn to bear with much seeming 
impertinence which is ignorant or unintentional. 
A very successful teacher of boys states that the 
recipe by means of which she got along with them 
was this maxim given her by an older friend: "A 
boy can't insult a woman (and he doesn't want to) . 
Never let yourself doubt it." 

We have said that the youth during early and 
middle adolescence, is never so clumsy in his ex- 
pression or appreciation of affection as now when 
he needs and desires it most. Remembering this, 



50 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

the home should redouble its affectionate mani- 
festations but carefully avoid a patronizing atti- 
tude. The welcome which awaited the child when 
he came into the world should await him every 
time he comes home. There are, as Kirtley tells 
us, "certain luminous hours — the home-coming 
hour, the meal hour, the play hour. On those 
hours life's high lights must gleam." 

Young persons seem especially sensitive now to 
certain regularities in the home festivals and re- 
unions, assuming a fresh interest in the ritual of 
stocking-hanging and the tree at Christmas, in- 
sisting upon birthdays and other anniversaries and 
reminiscing with evident enjoyment about early 
homes and their joys. This interest is precious, 
and holds much content of family loyalty and 
pride. 

Remember also, that the development which 
is going on now is in its very essence the 
growth of the parental, in instinct and attitude. 
They can now "Rejoice (they) are allied to That 
which doth provide and not partake, effect and 
not receive!" When the older children are taken 
into the happy comraderie of the parents in plan- 
ning these home celebrations, parents and children 
will both hold them as most tender memories, and 
will always wish afterward that there had been 
more of them. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 51 

Of course, the seeming impertinence and the 
clumsiness in the expression of affectionate emo- 
tions and also much of the "contrariness" are 
largely due to the fact that the young people are 
often nervously "on edge." "I feel all right if you 
don't ask me," the hysterical girl's reply to an 
inquiry as to her health, is quite typical of the 
emotional situation during much of this period. 

Next to the welcome at the home-coming hour, 
there is sincere and spontaneous appreciation of 
the cheerfully announced arrival in the midst of a 
social group outside of the family circle. Member- 
ship in suitable organizations within the church or 
the school and, later, in the community, goes a 
long way toward stabilizing the emotional life. 
In helping the other fellow who is discouraged, a 
boy goes a long way toward fortifying himself 
against the danger of surrender to discouragement. 
There is less of extreme emotional fluctuation in a 
group of boys or of girls than in an individual 
youth. If the ideals of the group are consistent 
with those which satisfy the most fundamental 
desires of its individual members, rapid progress 
will be made by them in the direction of emotional 
control. 

Will - 

Fundamentally what all this adolescent turmoil 
and change indicates is this: the conscious func- 



52 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

tioning of the will. We dare not slash at it ruth- 
lessly lest we destroy its vigor; we cannot let it 
grow wild lest it becomes dangerous. We believe 
with President Stanley Hall that the will is really 
a compound of our interests and we crave that our 
boys and girls shall carry the fresh enthusiasms of 
youth on into the sober days of maturity. The 
will can be conscious of itself only through its 
choices, and choice is limited to actions or to ideas 
which are primarily impressions remembered be- 
cause they have once been acted upon. A sense 
of value is awakened when choices have led to 
pleasant experiences. 

"The whole pedagogy of adolescence," says Dr. 
E. G. Lancaster, "is to inspire enthusiastic activ- 
ity." We, therefore, quietly drop the word " don't" 
from our vocabulary. We endeavor to keep the 
adolescent active; give him something to do, but 
always, within carefully guarded social relation- 
ships. We give him his religion even, especially 
during early and middle adolescence, in affairs of 
doing rather than of believing. These affairs, how- 
ever, must be carried on within social groups and 
with the desire to do good to others. 

Every youth should do what he wishes part of 
the time, but should be definitely directed part of 
the time and should always have something be- 
sides himself to occupy his attention. "Something 



OF ADOLESCENTS 53 

in which he is interested," says Kirkpatrick, "that 
stimulates him to achieve, even though not valua- 
ble in itself, is absolutely necessary. All sorts of 
stunts and fads may thus temporarily serve a use- 
ful purpose." 

Do we realize what a wholesome part physical 
training and athletics may have as time-fillers and 
outlets for otherwise aimless and unregulated 
energy? In the athletics of a well-conducted high 
school, which are not only accepted but actually 
regulated by the school faculty, we have a direct 
antidote for the soft sensuality of the age, a direct 
stimulus to school loyalty, a corrective to idle day 
dreaming, a stimulus for scholarship, and a broad- 
ening influence by the travel, the business experi- 
ences, and the sportsmanlikeness which are exer- 
cised in different ways through inter-scholastic 
competition. 

Even better is some form of work or some little 
enterprise of business, because it is productive. A 
boy who has learned the value of a dollar by earn- 
ing it is not as likely to get into moral difficulties 
as one who regards his father as a depository. 
The wisdom of the requirement that a boy earn a 
certain amount of money and deposit it in a 
Savings Bank in his own name is here seen. When 
a boy begins to appreciate money in terms of 
patient, consistent effort or service rendered to 



54 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

another, its true value is brought home to him. 
He should learn the lesson of saving as well as 
earning. 

There is sound pedagogy in the various Govern- 
ment Clubs that combine patriotism and personal 
achievement in productive enterprises. The rais- 
ing of hogs and chickens, growing of vegetables, 
canning and other methods of preserving, if 
properly directed, awaken keen adolescent in- 
terest. 

We must realize that we are now dealing with a 
creature who is beginning to get up speed under 
his own motive power. Energy that is new in 
both quantity and quality is being generated. 
Selfdiscovery and understanding on the part of 
the youth must have its complement in a new 
and suitable attitude on the part of the parent 
or leader. 

Questions for Individual and Class Study 

1. How do you account for the fickleness or 
seeming instability of youth? 

2. Why is it so often difficult for parents and 
teachers to understand adolescent young people? 

3. Why should adolescent boys and girls gain 
the habit of turning their attention outwardly? 

4. What are the specific mental values of ath- 
letics? Campcraft? Handicraft? 



OF ADOLESCENTS 55 

5. What conditions tend to produce premature 
mental weakness? 

6. Why should adolescent young people keep 
open the channels of expression? 

7. What are the values and the dangers of 
adolescent ambitions? 

8. How would you characterize the interests of 
adolescent young people? 

9. In what ways can adult leaders help these 
young people to throw off feelings that are self- 
depressing? 



CHAPTER IV 
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

Childhood's Treasure House 

The task of the adult leader of adolescent young 
people is to guide rather than to govern. His 
perilous but important privilege is that of the 
progressive transference of authority from himself 
to them. This transfer is less dangerous in those 
homes and churches where intelligent provision 
has been made for it. There is the necessity of 
filling the treasure house during the years of full- 
ness for the years of famine that are to follow. 
The child should by this time be in possession of a 
treasure house of good habits, of family traditions, 
of group loyalties, of high ideals that have been 
crystallized by books and the lives of great men 
and by the inspiration of living and dead heroes. 
Out of this, his own treasure house, his life should 
be fed as he starts on his pilgrimage into maturity. 

It would seem that, in a well regulated family, 
while it is not desirable that one's life should be 
directed in all things by rule, yet some things by the 
end of this first dozen years, should have come to 
be pretty definitely fixed. Transition into adoles- 
cence does not involve any fundamental changes 

56 



OF ADOLESCENTS 57 

with regard to the daily program and the kind of 
behavior that shall be permitted under various 
circumstances. 

But in following out these old habits, a new 
spirit begins to be discernible. The social outlook 
is enlarged. The girl consults her mother less 
about the details of her toilet and the boy shuns 
the old-established, sympathetic intercourse. 
Even in the realms of habit, there is manifested 
a growing individuality that makes the youth 
feel that he must now take charge of his own 
life. "If," says a wise adviser, "the mother 
can only be wise enough to let go of the arbitrary 
hand of parental authority and grasp, with the 
gentle hand of kindly sympathy, she will find the 
grasp firmer, surer and stronger with the passing 
years." 

Self-Corrective Experiences 

The guiding principles of action during these 
years should be not so much the judgment of the 
adult leader as the rights of others. So long as the 
young person is not making himself a nuisance to 
the rest of the family or group, a good many acts 
may be permitted which cannot possibly do any 
harm except to himself, and which, perhaps, will 
hardly do that so long as they teach him the wiser 
way. 



58 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

Under this head, perhaps, comes the matter of 
clothing. Many a mother is distracted between a 
son who wants to go out in all weathers meagerly 
clad and a daughter who wants to dress unsuitably 
for a young maiden. She feels that she may take 
some risks with the boy, whose warmer tempera- 
ture and greater resisting power will probably 
defend him from physical harm, but she prays for 
the day when the daughter may have sense and 
perception enough to see that the best charm of a 
maiden is not that she be gaudily conspicuous, 
but that she looks like a child as long as possible. 
For this latter case no wiser word can be said than 
that of President Stanley Hall: "Broaden by 
retarding. " 

Social Development within the Family 

One effective method of estabHshing happiness 
in a home, by mutual limitation of annoyance to 
others, is to call all the members together and form 
a partnership, yv ith father and mother as the senior , 
members of the firm; each child being apportioned 
some particular work which contributes directly 
or indirectly to the comfort of all the others. 
One contract, which was drawn up in an actual 
home is quoted by Mrs. Birney: 

"We, the undersigned, love each other with all 
our hearts, and we want to do all we can to make 



OF ADOLESCENTS 59 

our home the happiest place in the world. We will 
try always to be patient, kind and thoughtful, 
and to do cheerfully, and to the best of our ability, 
whatever our part of the household work may be. 
We will try to close the doors after us in winter, 
and not to bang the screen doors in summer, to 
remember to use the doormat in muddy weather, 
to keep our things in order, to put the hammer 
back in place," etc., etc. 

"On occasions, children are delighted with a 
certain amount of form and ceremony, and 
pleasure will invariably be derived from the draw- 
ing up of the contract, its impressive reading by 
father or mother, the discussion of it with further 
suggestions from the children, its final adoption 
by a unanimous vote, and lastly, the affixing of 
signatures, even the four-year-old having his 
hand guided, his name appearing in big, scrawly 
letters which differentiate it for practical reasons 
from the other signatures. 

"Once a week the contract should be read aloud 
to the assembled family; no one should ever pub- 
licly be accused of having failed to live up to its 
spirit, but it should be tacitly understood on such 
occasions that acknowledgment and apology 
should be made for specific shortcomings during 
the week past; that is, such shortcomings as af- 



60 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

fected the entire or even greater part of the fam- 

ily." 

Another mother, of whom Mrs. Kate Upson 
Clark tells, appointed each morning one of her 
children "captain of the day." "The captain of 
the day was helped always first at table, the next 
younger was helped next, and so on, until the 
circle was completed. " This captain took charge 
of the discipline during the day. "The idea of his 
responsibility is so fully impressed upon him that 
it is rarely necessary to interfere with the captain's 
discipline. " 

Still another, who found that hours of confiden- 
tial conversation with her children always paid, 
had a way of giving talismans, which were secrets 
between herself and her children, to help them 
remember and to defend themselves from certain 
acknowledged faults or vices. 

Some of the most successful workers with boys 
have used this same idea with great success. 
When the ethical code of the group is being care- 
lessly violated or moral ideals are endangered, a 
timely suggestion, such as "W. S. " (Watch your 
step) brings the deeper meaning of the unfortu- 
nate situation vividly before the boy's mind. 
Boys of early adolescent years, particularly, prefer 
this secret form of suggestion to a literal, direct 
reprimand. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 61 

With an adolescent boy or girl this partnership 
of sympathy- may wisely extend progressively to 
confidences regarding the family or group concerns 
and anxieties. "Watch the youth of fourteen," 
someone says, "when his judgment is asked rela- 
tive to some home arrangement; and if it is possible 
for you to agree with his suggestion, isn't it worth 
your tact and patience as you notice the glow of 
ambition and pride written all over the boy, as he 
realizes that he has actually formed one of the 
advisory board?" 

One of the greatest values of all these plans to 
make participation in self-government and family 
government a conscious and purposive thing, is 
that it is practice in democracy. The home is the 
primary social unit because it is a group of persons 
with the widest possible disparity of age, experi- 
ence, ability and wisdom, united by an equality 
of affection, a conviction of each other's supreme 
worth. The problems of mutual relations surely 
have a motive for their solution here if anywhere; 
and if they are really solved, the experience will 
carry over into the larger social groups. Such 
"government" through adolescence will go a long 
way toward producing young men and women 
capable of meeting the demands of world-democ- 
racy. 



62 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

Social Development through School Ex- 
periences 

The social experiences that are grouped around 
one's school, bring a wealth of ideas of social 
conduct which greatly enrich those gleaned from 
the home. The standards and practices of many 
homes are reflected in behavior of class-mates and 
school-mates. The groupings do not reflect the 
disparity with respect to age which is found in 
one's family. Mass movements are readily 
started. Notions of equality and of slight 
superiority grow out of the grading system and 
voluntary ' organizations or activities. Leader- 
ship based upon superior knowledge or wider 
practical experience is recognized. A broader and 
more intelligent sympathy with those who differ 
in matters of religious belief and social standing is 
inculcated. Social development through contacts 
that are established in school are second in im- 
portance only to those in the home. 

The Play Group 

The social group which, next to the family and 
the school, is apt to make the largest contribution 
toward the social-mindedness of adolescent young 
people is the one in which the leisure-time or play 
activities have their setting. When the boys and 
girls move out beyond the family circle, they move 



OF ADOLESCENTS 63 

into a play group. Those organizations that 
provide practical, concrete ideas of right behavior 
in the form of a code of conduct recognized by all 
the members of the group, are of inestimable value. 
They supplement the work of the parent or teacher 
just at the time when the voice of authority must 
originate in a social group, rather than in a 
superior individual. When a group of boys 
achieve self-government under the powerful sug- 
gestions of a simple, practical code of ethics, they 
take long strides in the direction of social efficiency 
and moral integrity. While at play young people 
can have practice in applying moral principles to 
particular problems. They learn to face new 
situations in a way that is consistent with the 
moral habits built up during childhood. 

Character has been defined as the sum of our 
choices. The young person who has not only 
done the right because he has been obliged 
to, but also for some years, has consistently chosen 
to do the right in different types of social en- 
vironment, is in a position not to be overwhelmed 
by the new consciousness and powers that are now 
his. 

Church School Loyalty 

An unfortunate situation occurs when a boy's 
loyalty to home, public school, or play group in- 



64 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

terferes with the development of his loyalty to his 
Sunday school class or to the school as a whole. 
The adult supervisor of play or director of leisure- 
time activities who is not in hearty sympathy with 
the program of the church school possesses power 
to injure the social development of adolescent 
young people in direct proportion to his popularity. 
Enthusiastic loyalty to a social group within a 
church easily develops into personal appreciation 
of the religion for which it stands. No local 
church that does not provide for the social develop- 
ment of its pupils in the Intermediate, Senior, and 
Young Peoples' departments need expect them 
to take seriously the formal religious instruction 
which it provides. Every organized class should 
be a vigorous social entity. Loyalty to it should 
not have to be compromised when, between 
Sundays, play considerations are uppermost. It 
is the duty of every teacher and supervisor of 
leisure-time activities to help develop a splendid 
esprit de corps in the church school and to guard, 
carefully, the adolescent's appreciation of member- 
ship therein. 

Community Loyalty 

Before middle adolescence is reached, commu- 
nity consciousness is revealed in the interests and 
conduct of boys and girls. The fact that they 



OF ADOLESCENTS 65 

know the community first of all as the place 
where home, school, play group, and church are 
located* helps to make an awakening community 
loyalty intelligent. Familiarity with community 
civics and the practical problems of community 
welfare give proper direction to social develop- 
ment during these years. The instructive im- 
pulse to be of service now finds natural expression 
in those activities that prepare the youth for the 
civic and political responsibilities which will be 
his when he becomes of age. He shares the honor 
or disgrace of the reputation of his home city, the 
streets, houses, parks and play grounds, public 
buildings, health, fire protection, and industrial 
foundation, all awaken individual interest. 

Social Instincts 

Both self-assertiveness and rebellion would be 
impossible to the ordinary youth if he had to do it 
alone. "The one way," says Munroe, "in which 
he can bolster up his courage is to lean upon other 
boys like himself." Hence the arising of the 
"gang" and the strengthening through this mutual 
support of whatever good and also whatever evil 
tendencies each of the individuals may have. His 
blind following of the gang is re-enforced because 
of his eager hero-worship, and the leader of the 
gang is frequently his hero. 



66 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

It is a peculiarity of this period that the youth 
when planning an action thinks not only of some- 
thing to be done, but also of another person as 
witnessing the achievement. His pleasure is not 
only in the act itself but also in the thought of 
how it will be viewed by others or by one particu- 
lar person. This immensely limits the field of 
"things that the fellers do" and at the same time 
gives an unnatural glamour to efforts in particular 
directions. 

Perhaps another reason for the clandestine 
escapades of some girls is the girl's tendency to be 
dominated by the approval of one person at a 
time, rather than by a larger circle. The escape 
from the window is achieved by the help of the 
chum or the boy, though she may later join "the 
crowd." Her social heritage tends to make her 
interpret loyalty as clinging to one against the 
whole world. Here is where the right sort of woman 
can have so immeasurable an influence as her 
heroine or "adoree. " 

The Friendship Instinct 

In the middle and later adolescent- years, 
especially, the social instinct, let us call it the 
friendship instinct, takes the special form of in- 
terest in the other sex. As girls mature physically 
a little earlier than boys, they manifest this in- 



OF ADOLESCENTS 67 

stinct sooner and with a frankness that is some- 
times alarming to their parents. Prepared as they 
may be by reminiscence for the fact that this in- 
stinct is sure to come, they have forgotten that 
with some girls as young as thirteen, the subject 
of boys is the all-absorbing topic of conver- 
sation and even of thought. The interest is 
innocent and ignorant and is often as much a 
form of early feminine jealousy of the other girls 
as it is of genuine interest in any individual lad. 
The maladies of silliness and of "giggles" develop 
from a combination of sex-interest, unstable nerv- 
ous equilibrium, and a self-consciousness fostered 
by the foolish and jesting attitude of adults. 

It is for this reason that adult leaders, whether of 
adolescent boys or girls must be familiar with the 
whole problem of adolescence. A play program 
that is founded upon complete sex segregation is 
false in theory and positively harmful in practice. 
As one homely philosopher put it: "The Lord 
probably knew what He was about when He per- 
mitted both boys and girls to belong to the same 
family. " During early adolescence, sex conscious- 
ness is permeated with group loyalty. Therefore, 
groups of boys should play with groups of girls. 
Both boys and girls put their whole selves into 
play. At such times they are wholesomely self- 
expressive. Knowledge of the opposite sex gained 



68 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

on these occasions is the best and most natural step 
toward the friendships of later years. 

Moral Awakening 

The keenness of interest which the youth shows 
in physical and mental achievements is also seen 
in his relation to moral standards. The moral life 
of an adolescent is at first largely one of habit, 
impulse, and feeling. Later it is one in which 
thoughtfulness becomes dominant. Normally both 
feeling and reason should become related to 
each other and to the whole of the growing ex- 
perience through activity. 

It is especially during the era of middle 
adolescent feeling that the growing boy or girl 
rises to heights of moral ecstasy. These, too, 
come on in rhythms, with lulls between. These 
"between" seasons are the opportunity for doing, 
and for working moral insight into moral fiber 
through the medium of reality. It is due to the 
neglect of providing means of expression that 
the later adolescent thoughtfulness struggles so 
often with a sense of unreality, and finds it so 
difficult to bridge the gaps between the earlier 
forms of belief and the new data of maturity. 
Moral awakening has its best setting in the 
period of the most rapid social development, 



OF ADOLESCENTS 69 

Social Management 

In the social life of the youth, we meet a varied 
and complex problem. At one moment we find it 
feasible to make use of emulation and stimulate 
him to imitate his hero. Again we crave the op- 
portunity for him to be by himself so that he may 
learn to stand upon his own feet and think out his 
own thoughts. We often find it necessary to get 
the gang on our side and to chaperon its activities 
so that they may be harmless. Having won its 
confidence, the gang is potentially one of the best 
friends of parents and teachers in the training of 
early and middle adolescent boys. It is the part of 
wisdom to work with the gang and not against it. 
The youth may be allowed an almost uninter- 
rupted relationship with his group if the leading 
spirit of the group is morally sound and if that 
relationship is conducted under wholesome condi- 
tions. 

This fact especially emphasizes the necessity of 
the young person's having a room of his own. 
"He needs it," says Kirtley, "in his business of 
being a boy. If he does not get it at home he 
always wants to establish headquarters somewhere 
else — on the street corner, or a vacant lot, or in 
another boy's home. This always lessens his 
attachment for his own home. His self-respect 



70 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

and social standing require that he have a place 
where he can bring his friends; if he brings them to 
his own home, they will be in a respectable place 
and not be as apt to get into trouble. He will be 
proud to have his parents become honorary or 
sustaining members of the club. Such a relation- 
ship gives those parents a chance to take the sting 
out of all mischief and renew the joys of long ago. 
His room is a social center, training him for life. " 

We believe there is scarcely a home where this is 
not possible. Since so many of the gang's activi- 
ties are naturally in the evening, a basement may 
be used, where there is no attic, and there are 
fascinating possibilities in sheds and "shacks" 
in backyards. 

A free center of hospitality is just as essential for 
the girl. While she may not set up such a center 
in a vacant lot, like her brother, if deprived of a 
headquarters, she will miss from her development 
an element that should enter now when the in- 
stinct is at its keenest. Besides, a room alone 
gives opportunity for the expression of many 
artistic and decorative phases without such violent 
re-adjustment of the rest of the house furnishing, 
or such evident lack of appreciation on the part of 
the family. Many a parent would be surprised at 
the strength and tenacity of the feeling of resent- 
ment or disappointment in the heart of a docile 



OF ADOLESCENTS 7i 

daughter, because her friends and her ideas were 
so seldom "convenient." 

Parents are sometimes concerned because their 
children at this period become completely fasci- 
nated with some other person, frequently of the 
same sex, so that the acts, thoughts and feelings 
of the admired individual are of more interest than 
anything else in the world. But, as Kirkpatrick 
reminds us, this is at least better than extreme self- 
absorption. If the person be strong and well- 
rounded, nothing but good can result. And if the 
parent has reason to believe that the person is not 
strong and good, the case is by no means hopeless. 
A good general rule is that the parent should crave 
to know personally and in the home, though un- 
obstrusively, everyone whom his children like. 
In the home-circle the unwholesome acquaintance 
loses much of his glamor; brought into competition 
there with unusually fine young persons, invited 
there for the purpose, he may lose it all. 

"First Loves" 

The proper attitude to take toward first loves 
is that of complete candor. Nothing could be 
more foolish than to joke a child about his fancy, 
because that is the surest way to make him secre- 
tive and to encourage him to continue his passion 
away from home. Invite the loved one to your 



72 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

own home, not of course in any other guise than 
that of a school-room friend, and observe her well 
but kindly. Keep the acquaintance open and 
above-board. Try to know her folks, and get 
them to work with you in a mutual program. 

So with the young girl in her first boy craze. 
Just as naturally as you would ask the girl friends, 
invite the boy to stay to supper for some special 
treat, suggest that he bring his fish for a "shore 
dinner" in the back yard, or plan a candy-pull. 

Precocious ideas grow by attention, whether in 
antagonism or in jesting. The best way to mini- 
mize over-consciousness of sex interests is by 
magnifying common human interests. As the girl 
grows older and wishes to entertain in a more 
formal and grown-up way, she will usually enter 
eagerly into plans for practicing how to be a gra- 
cious and pleasing hostess to many different kinds 
of young men. Friendships thus guarded may 
prove of life-long worth, or they may die a nat- 
ural but innocent death. They cannot be hurtful 
"If we try our best to make the best of it, we take 
the worst out of the very worst of it. " 

With boys, first love is chivalrous and unselfish 
but equally blinding to any other object. Such 
pre-occupation constitutes one of the most diffi- 
cult problems of the middle and later adolescent 
period. It is no doubt the fascinations of the 



OF ADOLESCENTS 73 

gang and the delight of first love that partly ex- 
plain the disregard of the home-folks that so many 
young people manifest. 

Co-operation 

Now, more than ever before, parents must share 
the guidance of their children with others. Young 
people at this time are profoundly influenced by 
the spirit of the gang. The influence of a particu- 
lar chum may be even more powerful than that of a 
parent. It is necessary also to consider the in- 
fluence of the different ideas of parental control 
and personal privilege shared by the other homes 
of the neighborhood, and also the general senti- 
ment of the community as to what is proper for 
young people to do. Says Mrs. Ford, "If all the 
mothers of a certain set of society were agreed on 
certain standards, it would be easier for the individ- 
ual mother to hold strongly to the ideal of conduct 
or attitude, whatever it may be. Why can't you 
strengthen the backbone of the mothers of the 
community? Thoughtless mothers make things 
hard for the rest, and I believe that the thoughtful 
mother who gives herself to the work of a good 
sensible mothers' club is thereby saving time and 
work and perplexity for herself. " 

Co-operation among parents is no more impor- 
tant than is co-operation between parents and those 



74 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

adult leaders who outside of the family are direct- 
ing the intellectual, religious, physical and social 
development of these young people. In multi- 
tude of instances, these volunteer workers are tak- 
ing up this important task just at the time when 
the parent is unable to carry it forward. The 
same standards should obtain within the homes, 
the church and the school, so that young people of 
a given community will be impressed with the 
consistency of the moral law. All of the plans for 
leisure-time occupations being worked out in these 
three institutions should be tested by the require- 
ments of citizenship in a Christian democracy. 

Questions for Individual and Class Study 

1 . At what age will a child naturally have secrets 
that are kept back from his parents, though shared 
with others? 

2. How can the home provide young people with 
practice in self-government? 

3. Of what value to young people are friend- 
ships? 

4. What is gained through membership in a 
gang? 

5. Is an adolescent young person ever justified 
in going contrary to the expressed judgment and 
wish of parents? Give reasons for your answer. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 75 

6. Why should every program of training adoles- 
cents morally, emphasize activity? 

7. Why should loyalty to home, school and 
church precede loyalty to community ? 

8. Of what value is school loyalty? Loyalty to 
one's community? 

9. How are the social instincts expressed during 
middle and latter adolescence? 

10. Why should adolescent young people have 
their own social headquarters? 

11. What attitude should be taken toward first 
loves? 

12. What forms of co-operation among adult 
leaders are possible in the interest of the social 
development of adolescents? 



CHAPTER V 

RELIGION AS A MODE OF CONTROL IN 
ADOLESCENT CONDUCT 

Religion as a "Complex" 

(See note at end of this chapter) 

Why do so many young people, thirteen, four- 
teen and fifteen years old, leave off going to Sun- 
day school? At this age they are naturally more 
interested in religion than during the three preced- 
ing years. Religion is, or should be a matter of 
spontaneous and vital concern during the entire 
adolescent period. 

The first answer to this question is found in the 
fact that adolescent young people are interested, 
primarily, in using religion rather than in studying 
it. If they study it, the strongest motive for 
study is the desire to make personal use of it. 
The teacher of religion whose aim is merely to 
help them to pile up more and yet more informa- 
tion about the Bible, the Holy Spirit, or the 
Church — information that is not especially in- 
tended for use — need not be surprised if they lose 
interest and disappear. 

In order to remain steadfast in their religious 
life these young folks must continue to build up a 
definite system of organized religious ideas which 

76 



Of adolescents 77 

is permeated with strong religious emotions and 
which produces actions of a definite religious 
character. Such a system is called by psycholo- 
gists a potential "religious complex." 

If the religious instruction previously given has 
not been systematic or well organized, it is difficult 
for a young person to become definitely and 
wholly religious. The religious ideas of persons 
who are indifferent to religion are usually dis- 
organized and scattered. It is difficult for them 
to increase in religious wisdom because of mental 
confusion on this subject. 

But it is also vitally important to have this 
definite system of ideas permeated with strong 
emotions. Religious emotions, however, cannot 
be built up except through actual, first-hand 
religious experience. The religious nurture of 
adolescent young people involves practice in 
prayer, in worship, in oral witnessing, and in 
service supported by religious motives. Unless 
this actual practice in religion takes place, the 
emotional elements will be weak and the potential 
religious complex will fail to have sufficient 
strength to be a controlling factor in conduct. 

The adolescent's interest in religion is limited 
largely by the sense of value which grows out of 
this system of organized ideas, emotions and im- 
pulses. He is the conscious possessor of a religious 



78 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

system which he recognizes as his own. Unless 
he feels it to be a vital part of his life, something of 
which he is not ashamed, something that brings 
satisfaction through use, indifference is sure to 
result. 

Control from Without and from Within 

For him to become habitually adjusted to the 
moral law, as interpreted by those who have 
charge of his life, is the child's great moral achieve- 
ment during the years preceding adolescence. 
But during the years twelve to twenty-four, the 
problem is to make the voice of habit the voice of 
a conscience that is consistently obeyed. Respon- 
sibility for the appreciation and interpretation of 
the moral law now rests upon young people them- 
selves. 

It is because religion is the highest, the most 
sacred element within one's own life that it should 
decide what are to be the standards of one's con- 
duct. Before adolescence, young people have 
little experience in moral self-direction. They 
get permission of parents or teacher to do that 
which is not covered by some former consent or 
approval or concerning which they are in doubt. 
To disobey their elders is to do what is wrong. 
To obey them is to do what is right. The element 
that is most sacred is without rather than within. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 79 

But this moral dependence is outgrown after 
the first dozen years. Adolescents feel free to 
express their own opinions of what is right or 
wrong conduct and to go ahead on the basis of 
those opinions. They take up the responsibility 
for their own behavior. Being thus consciously 
amenable to themselves, they naturally try to 
find within themselves something that they can 
tie up to. Religion is or should be this something. 
They should recognize the supremacy of their 
religious interests over all others. 

What is Adolescent Religion? 

Religion is simply one's whole bearing toward 
that which is held to have highest value. It is 
one's deference to (or rebellion against) whatever 
is felt to be of supreme worth. We worship the 
objects or persons that we ^feel to be most im- 
pressive and sacred. 

The adolescent mind naturally moves out to- 
ward the ideal — toward whatever seems to be 
most powerful, most beautiful, most worthy of 
confidence, most majestic, most effective in caus- 
ing things to happen. When it finds this ulti- 
mately real person, it feels a sense of obligation to 
him. The differences between self and the ideal 
are readily felt, especially by adolescent young 
people. To try to realize the ideal is a universal 



80 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

adolescent endeavor. That is, religion is now na- 
tural. 

Boys and girls of this age who are irreligious are 
unnatural and uncomfortable. They sense the 
fact that something is wrong. A young person 
endeavoring to conceal the fact of a life lived in 
defiance of the God of his childhood may try to 
appear comfortable and happy, but in doing so 
he is insincere and more or less dissatisfied with 
his own pretenses. 

Conduct that is brought into harmony with 
one's conception of what is of greatest value, there- 
by becomes religious. It is thus that religion 
permeates all life and gives "tone" to it. Reli- 
gion affects every thought, impulse and desire. 
A person who is religious thinks certain kinds of 
thoughts, has characteristic desires. He conducts 
himself in a particular way — as though he cared 
about God. 

There are three distinct ways in which adoles- 
cent young people adjust themselves and their 
conduct to that which awakens in them this high- 
est sense of value. One is through obedience; 
another is through personal appreciation; and the 
third is through belief. There are three outstand- 
ing types of experiences that are seen in the reli- 
gious unfolding of adolescent life. One is domi- 
nantly volitional; another is emotional; and the 



OF ADOLESCENTS 81 

third is intellectual. At the dawn of early adoles- 
cence, the child is supremely interested in doing 
religious things. At sixteen, religious experiences 
affect his emotions, particularly. At nineteen, 
or later, his religious interest centers in beliefs, 
doctrines, theology, creeds. 

Early Adolescent Religion 

Usually, in the twelfth year, an outstanding 
type of religious experience occurs. Its most 
marked characteristic is voluntary and implicit 
obedience. The whole religious life is now as- 
sembled or organized around the doing of things 
that have the approval of the highest authority. 
This child does what he thinks the one highest in 
authority wants him to do. A whole-hearted 
decision to recognize the lordship of Him who has 
the greatest inherent right to rule over the life 
marks the culminating point in this twelve-year- 
old religious experience. 

This supreme decision brings highest satisfac- 
tion. The mind is no longer annoyed by two or 
more conflicting influences that attempt to rule in 
conduct. This kind of behavior reveals consist- 
ency and sincerity. There is now response to but 
one voice. Conduct is morally sound. 

Religious conduct during early adolescence 
is expressive and expansive. Impulses are both 
strong and numerous. There is also muscular 

7 



82 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

vigor. Normally, the mind is turned outward, 
away from itself and is interested in things to be 
seen and heard, good turns that need to be done. 
There is more conduct to be controlled than ever 
before. The stream of life is flowing more swiftly. 
It has greater volume also. Children of this age 
find joy in taking the initiative. They appreciate 
beingin the midstof things that are "doing." They 
are highly suggestible, provided that the sugges- 
tion originates in a plane of conduct or experience 
which they recognize to be higher than their own. 
When this highest standard of what is right or of 
greatest value is enthroned within their own lives, 
its place therein recognized as supreme and au- 
thoritative, conduct becomes truly religious. Re- 
ligion has become the mode of control in their 
conduct. 

The years thirteen and fourteen are normally 
spent in putting this mode of control into practice. 
The supreme decision that normally comes at the 
twelfth year, has to be put into operation again 
and again — until it becomes throughly established 
or automatic. Self-will gradually becomes trans- 
formed into the supremely good-will. 

During this time, attention must be directed, 
frequently, to the highest type of conduct as seen 
in the lives of heroes and in the absolutely perfect 
life of the Master. With this ideal in mind, ado* 
lescent young people become personally religious 



OF ADOLESCENTS 83 

through religious conduct. That which was exter- 
nal becomes internal. Standards become one's 
own. Moral and religious suggestions like those 
that originated in the Hero now begin to spring up 
from within. Choices are made in accordance 
with them. That which was received is now given 
back in a spontaneous way. Conscious effort to 
be good or to do what is right gradually disap- 
pears. The outside supports, so necessary in 
childhood, are no longer needed. Religion has be- 
come one's own. The ship that was held in place 
by "ways," "shores," "blocks" and other scaf- 
folding in the yard is now launched and maintains 
its own balance. 

One of the practical dangers during this inter- 
mediate or transition period is that of a growing 
lack of appreciation of those parents and teachers 
whose guidance and interpretations have led to 
this personal appreciation of the highest good. 
Young people of this age are idealists without much 
practical experience. They are apt to pick out 
the faults and weaknesses in the conduct of others 
and over-estimate their significance. The average 
fourteen-year-old begins to be an iconoclast. His 
opinions are formed hastily. He is ruthless in his 
criticisms. There is little patience for the gather- 
ing up of all the evidence before a final judgment 
is reached. This spirit often gives rise to the use 
of such expressions as "the old man" instead of 



84 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

"father." A few years later, this critical non- 
chivalrous attitude toward persons, if permitted 
to develop may become the permanent attitude 
toward churches and other institutions. 

The restraining influence of the religious ideal 
to which this youth has decided to become obe- 
dient must be quantitative as well as qualitative. 
The natural volume of impulses and activities, 
the abundance of interests and desires must not 
be interfered with. Religion must now provide 
for the opportunity of vigorous expansion in life. 
An early adolescent youth can be impulsive, vigor- 
ously active, adventuresome — he can enjoy fun, 
abhor dull routine, flee from the commonplace, 
and keep his most cherished secrets from his par- 
ents — all without breaking the Ten Command- 
ments. 

The religious ideal and the moral law which it 
sanctions must not stand in the way of his living 
an abundant life. If a new shoe is causing a 
blister, the thing to do is not to keep off one's feet 
and to lie in bed, but to get a more comfortable 
pair of shoes. Religion and religious institutions 
were made for life, and not life for religion. Early 
adolescent religious life is not less active, adven- 
turesome, impulsive. It is expressive in a new 
and better way. The truly Christian conscience 
is not destructive and unnatural. It is superna- 
tural, even autocratic, yet sympathetic and kind. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 85 

Middle Adolescent Religion 

The early adolescent barely brings himself into 
habitual subjection to this higher will and law 
when he discovers that it is a new self with which 
he is dealing. There is now a still further expan- 
sion of life. A reaffirmation of loyalty is required, 
social interests are now intensifying. Friend- 
ships may or may not suggest compromise with 
one's former ideals. "To thine own self be true" 
is the great challenge of religion to middle adoles- 
cence. To keep God at the center of life and to 
go on making friends, following out vocational 
interests, accepting membership in various or- 
ganizations, appreciating the aesthetic and letting 
altruistic motives find abundant expression is 
the supreme achievement during these years. 

If a standard of value other than the highest or 
an ideal other than the loftiest has temporarily 
gained supremacy or has become an equally force- 
ful factor in controlling conduct, social and reli- 
gious salvation can be found only through con- 
version. Any attempt to serve two mutually 
antagonistic ideals — two hostile masters — is fatal. 
Dual morality is damnation. "Is thine eye 
single?" "Doest thou love the Lord thy God 
with thy whole heart?" "Simon Peter, lovest 
thou Me?" These are the questions which reli- 
gion asks of the sixteen-year-old youth. "Blessed 



86 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

are they pure in heart." Moral adulteration is 
now the most dangerous of all temptations. No 
secret social alliance must be permitted to under- 
mine one's religion. 

A vital part of the problem of experimental re- 
ligion is now that of whole-hearted, warm-hearted 
obedience to the moral law and to the supreme 
loyalties already established within one's own heart 
and mind. It is continued loyalty to the highest 
loyalties brought over from the preceding years. 
Consciousness of sin should quickly follow any 
violation of conscience. Repentance and restored 
allegiance is the only road that leads toward tran- 
quility of mind and soundness of character. 

This period is often called the time of storm 
and stress. The reason is now difficult to discover. 
Religion is intensely personal. Varieties of stand- 
ards are discovered in individuals who exert a 
strong personal influence. Motives other than 
those that are religious may seem to be adequate 
supports of good conduct in others' lives. Spirit- 
ual compromise may seem to be the price of friend- 
ship or of vocational success. The ethical code 
reflected in the by-laws of a fraternity, member- 
ship in which seems to be a social necessity, may 
conflict with one's own standards, built up through 
a series of former experiences. 

It is also a time when the imagination readily 
pictures a lofty ideal and sees self in relation to 



OF ADOLESCENTS 87 

that ideal. Self is constantly being measured or 
tested by that which is heroic or sublime. Lofty 
conceptions of right conduct are "tried on" like 
new suits of clothes. Ideals exert a powerful in- 
fluence but the ability to reach them seems, at 
times, to be utterly lacking. Thus the mind is 
drawn toward both the ideal and the practical, 
the perfect and the personal at the same time. 
And all this takes place at a time when sensitive 
personal relations to a complex social and intellec- 
tual environment are being maintained. 

Social Aspects of -Middle Adolescent 
Religion 

Religious sentiments are now very closely in- 
tertwined with those that are social. Life is be- 
coming less individualistic and self-centered. A 
middle adolescent young person readily appreciates 
those who have personal qualities which he him- 
self would gladly possess or which others possess 
as a result of his own efforts. 

A parent, teacher or pastor who ignores this 
instinctive desire for social experience, this de- 
light in various forms of social service, and interest 
in social institutions or co-operative endeavor will 
thereby put himself out of sympathetic touch 
with young folks of middle adolescent age. The 
practical problems of management will so increase 
that failure will be inevitable. There is no au- 



88 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

thority, even of religion, that can take the place 
of social influence. These young people simply will 
not be forced into what another arbitrarily holds 
to be right conduct for them and which they can- 
not appreciate. If they must, they wont. 

Personal influence and example will succeed 
where autocracy and arbitrariness fail. The in- 
fluences that are most effective in causing them 
to live religious lives arise in a social atmosphere 
created or maintained by religious persons who 
have large capacity for human sympathy and kind- 
ness and who appreciate the intensity of these 
social sentiments. 

Directing various kinds of social service activi- 
ties that are supported by religious motives, 
therefore, is an effective way of training middle 
adolescent young people in religion. If religious 
ideals are maintained and find expression in such 
forms of service as giving material relief in cases 
of absolute poverty, providing elevating types of 
recreation, awakening interest in self-improve- 
ment, caring for children or other dependents, and 
various forms of civic or community betterment, 
these ideals tend to become permanent and con- 
trolling factors in conduct. 

If these young people never know the joy of such 
experiences, they cannot enter fully into their re- 
ligious inheritance. Their religion must have a 
human tang and their social relationships must 



OF ADOLESCENTS 89 

have a religious tang. Religion is weakened and 
restricted by the absence of social imagination. 

Likewise, by that social superficiality that often 
results when social experiences are excessively nu- 
merous, too complex and too highly varied. Re- 
ligion is the natural bond of the noblest and most 
enduring friendships. A truly Christian motive in 
rendering service — not pity, merely, but genuine 
appreciation and love — often leads young people 
out into religious experiences which would other- 
wise be unknown to them. Love of God and love 
of fellow man are jointly meaningful during these 
years. 

If social service is to result in the purification 
and strengthening of the religious life it should be 
practical; suited to the temperament, capacities 
and resources of the one who is to render it; pro- 
ceed along permanently constructive and scienti- 
fic lines; stimulate a social consciouness that tran- 
scends a single local church or demomination and 
includes the whole community. Some encourag- 
ing results should be in evidence before the efforts 
sink down on to the plane of dull, hopeless 
drudgery. The idea of achieving immortality 
through service rendered to an institution which 
abides through the centuries — the custodian of the 
personal influence of the saints of former genera- 
tions — makes a powerful appeal to the middle 
adolescent mind. 



90 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

Later Adolescent Religion 

The first task of the one responsible for the 
religion of young people between the ages of eight- 
een and twenty and whose mental development 
has continued normally, is to help them to hold 
on to the religious sentiments, ideals and habits 
and the church membership which are already 
theirs. Loyalty to the church and church school, 
delight in doing God's will, vital appreciation of 
prayer, worship and Bible study, enthusiastic 
service supported by a religious motive, should 
all be kept alive. The vital religious experiences 
of the past must not be permitted to fade away. 
Sustain them at any cost. Mere consistency, how- 
ever, should not be sacrificed in the interest of 
progress. 

But in order to do this, the religion of childhood 
and early youth must become increasingly mean- 
ingful. At this age, young people try to under- 
stand as well as to enjoy their religion. Their 
enjoyment of it comes largely through deeper and 
clearer insight. They insist upon the right to 
ask questions. They are quick to discover weak- 
nesses in religious organizations and institutions 
or to note any disparity between practice and pro- 
fession. They are the full fledged iconoclasts. 

The religion that controlled impulses and 
sentiments, during the preceding years, is now 
called upon to control the reason. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 91 

An elevated self-confidence and sense of power 
leads to discontent with responsibilities that are 
not correspondingly large. Service as well as 
loyalty is judged from the standpoint of the ideal. 
It is first pure idealism, then passionate idealism, 
and finally practical idealism that mark the succes- 
sive stages of adolescent imagination. The capa- 
city for self-sacrifice, power of endurance, sustained 
loyalty and quick response when help is needed are 
all seen in the kind of service rendered by our 
later adolescent young people in war time. They 
also suggest the kinds of opportunities for service 
which the church should supply. The moral 
equivalent of war- work is a pressing demand. 

A fusing of patriotism and religion is character- 
istic of these years. The ideal of the Kingdom of 
God realized in actual civic, social, political and 
economic affairs appeals to them profoundly. 
There is splendid youthful courage seen in their 
readiness to undertake programs of social and 
political reform. The practical undertakings 
needed to create a truly Christian community 
and state, present a challenge to which they reply 
— "Here am I, send me." This is the youth who 
replies — "I can." 

Religion is adapted to the need and capacities 
of this period when it is formulated into accurate 
statements of belief, when its historic origin and 
development are clearly set forth, when it is pre- 



92 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

sented as a gigantic program — a going concern 
that needs the support of those who are strong, 
and when it can furnish guiding principles to help 
in choosing a vocation, a life companion, a politi- 
cal party, a denomination or a fraternal organiza- 
tion. 

It is an interesting fact that young people are 
independently thoughtful in religious matters 
before they are capable of sustaining their religion 
without the help of others. This means that they 
begin to form their own ideals before they are able 
to manage their daily conduct. It is not always 
easy to bring practice up on to the level of profes- 
sion. There sometimes follows a certain incon- 
sistency between the two. The youth may be 
splendidly encouraging to us as to his purpose, 
and yet discouraging in his actions when with his 
crowd. We must be patient until his actions begin 
to catch up with his ideals, and help him to see 
what actions belong with his ideals and that re- 
ligious creeds and denominational loyalties are 
intensely practicable. 

Note: The strong word, "complex," is used here for a specific pur- 
pose, namely, to call attention to the damaging results of wrong peda- 
gogical methods in the religious nurture of adolescents. 

A fully developed religious complex is designated as a compact sys- 
tem of religious ideas, of marked emotional accentuation, which is 
split off from consciousness. It is more or less ^completely repressed 
into the unconscious, remaining there in a somewhat dormant state. 
Now and then it is called forth for a time. While in consciousness, it 
annoys and harasses the mind. Then it returns, like a disturbed ghost, 
to its resting place. Such is the religion of many an adult. 

When adolescent young people begin to be indifferent to their religion, 
they take the first step in the direction of this disastrous "dissociation" 



OF ADOLESCENTS 93 

and "repression." It may be that they will never journey to that state 
where their religion actually endangers their mental integrity. But 
just as soon as a youth turns against his religion, it tends to take on 
definiteness through separation. Internal antagonisms spring up. 
A struggle is begun which may last through the remaining years of 
life. His religion is finally related to the mind only by means of dis- 
sociation and repression. 

If religious teachers of youth could only be made to see the ripened 
results of their errors, in terms of religious complexes, they would have 
a new motive for self-preparation for their work. 

Questions for Individual and Group Study 

1. Compare the religion of later childhood with 
that of adolescence. 

2. What is a potential "religious complex"? 

3. What are some of the general characteristics 
of adolescent religion? 

4. Why are the life stories of religious heroes 
especially appropriate for early adolescents? 

5. How does the vigorous activity of early 
adolescent boys and girls affect their religion? 

6. What are the outstanding marks of middle 
adolescent religion? 

7. What practical difficulties are involved in 
being religious during these years? 

8. What effect do social sentiments now have 
upon religion? 

9. What are the chief characteristics of later 
adolescent religion? 

10. Of what use is religion to young people in 
this stage of development? 

11. Describe the creed-making tendency of 
later adolescence.. 



CHAPTER VI 
RULING MOTIVES 

Besides their religious faith and those impulses 
that find expression particularly in play, there are 
seven outstanding motives that are clearly re- 
flected in the conduct of adolescent young people. 
They are pride, dissatisfaction with the common- 
place, hero-worship, responsibility, group loyalty, 
chivalry and the "career-motive." 

Pride 

There is nothing which the average young per- 
son dreads more than to be the object of ridicule. 
This explains the absolute determination to have 
neckties or blouses, hats or spats, of the extremest 
mode acceptable to by the special circle of friends. 
Their idealism permeates their self -consciousness. 
This also explains why this public opinion of the 
boy's "gang" or the girl's "crowd" is taken to 
heart. It registers the degree of one's elevation 
or humiliation. 

We may take advantage of this motive, even 
though it be not the highest one. It is a potent 
help toward cleanliness and neatness of person. 
It assists in learning social graces and in practising 

94 



OP ADOLESCENTS 9$ 

the outer signs of courtesy. So far as it conven- 
tionalizes the youth's conduct, it delivers him 
from the more brutal vices, and if the motive can 
be lifted to the level of honor, it makes him im- 
mune to the lower temptations, for, as President 
Stanley Hall tells us: "Of all safeguards honor is 
the most effective at this age." 

This is a good time in which to appeal to the 
pride of clan, to tell the stories of ancestors who 
were brave and pure and courtly, and set up a 
standard for the family beneath which no member 
of it will care to fall. The church school teacher 
finds that pride in the school which inspires loyalty 
is one of the most potent motives of student dis- 
cipline. 

"My children always sing better," the father of 
the Peet family of concert singers used to say in 
public, "when they are applauded." All lives 
give better music when they are praised. No 
matter what may be the perturbations in an 
adult leader's heart, he must be steadily retain 
the attitude of expecting right conduct. No 
matter how much the youth may become dis- 
couraged concerning himself, and during the 
moody years of adolescence there are many days 
of utter despair, he will always insist that, no 
matter how many mistakes or failures are made, 
the youth himself is going to come out all right. 



06 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

More youths have been saved by feeling beneath 
themselves the solid rock of confidence on the 
part of adult leaders, than by any other one fact. 

"It is a very dangerous, wicked thing," says 
Orison Swett Marden, "to destroy a child's self- 
faith." Children are very easily discouraged. 
Some of the most hopeful children develop very 
slowly, while some mor^ brilliant show, during 
the process of development, very trying traits. 
While overpraise is as bad as utter neglect, ap- 
preciation of the effort and enthusiasm shown by 
youth at playing the violin, at making some little 
composition or some mechanical device, may be 
just the inspiration needed to bring forth a nascent 
talent to the sunshine. 

In his "Mind in the Making," Dr. Edgar J. 
Swift gives us a striking catalogue of instances of 
men who became great who showed little promise 
during adolescence. Charles Darwin was "sing- 
ularly incapable of mastering any language." 
His father told him he would be a disgrace to him- 
self and his family. Napoleon Bonaparte stood 
forty-second in his class at the military school, but 
who were the forty-one above him? Patrick 
Henry "ran wild in forests, like one of the aborig- 
ines and divided his life between dissipation 
and the languor of inaction." So little ability 
did Sir Isaac Newton show that at fifteen he was 



OF ADOLESCENTS 97 

taken out of school and set to work upon a farm. 
Lord Byron succeeded in reaching the head of his 
class only by inverting the proper order, so that 
the most ignorant were temporarily placed first. 
Oliver Goldsmith's teacher "thought him one of 
the dullest boys that she had ever tried to teach." 
Henry Ward Beecher was a "poor writer and a 
miserable speller, with a thick utterance and a 
bashful reticence that seemed like stupidity." 
One simply cannot afford to prophecy failure for 
a boy who has not found himself. 

Dissatisfaction with the Commonplace 

During the years of pre-adolescence, boys and 
girls seem to appreciate repetition and routine. 
It is the familiar things that occasion satisfaction. 
Habits are forming and the habit-making experi- 
ences do not annoy. There is no serious objec- 
tion to the same thing over and over. If the 
same experience is repeated regularly and fre- 
quently the child does not object. 

But after adolescence has been reached, there 
is particular appreciation and exceptions. The 
commonplace palls. There is an intense desire to 
escape from mere routine. Satiety in any one 
direction is easily reached. Variety is the spice 
of adolescent life. Wanderlust seizes the mind 
at times and the impulse to migrate is overpower- 



98 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

ing. The future time and distant place become 
burdened with great treasures. The mind de- 
mands excitement. Where there is no change 
there is little interest. 

Even those adolescents who do not disappear 
mysteriously from home do become restless and 
frankly express dissatisfaction with familiar con- 
ditions. Ordinary clothes are no longer adequate. 
The plain and simple annals of lowly living awaken 
no appreciation. The majority of adolescents 
are unwilling to begin in the lowly circumstances 
where their parents began. To their friends or 
companions they apologize for home conditions 
that do not appeal to the imagination. Tastes 
tend to become extravagant. It is the uncommon 
thing that arouses curiosity and desire Patience 
is not a universal adolescent virtue. 

Hero-Worship 

Another ruling motive is that of hero-worship. 
"Every man," someone has said, "is some boy's 
hero." Many a boy who would almost fight at 
the implication that he is a "good boy" is quite 
willing to be any of the qualities characterized by 
the man he admires, who may chance to be one of 
the best of men. The youth is now a loyal St. 
Christopher, searching for his strongest master. 
"That boy looks upon me as his hero and I dare 



OF ADOLESCENTS 99 

not let him down," said a man struggling to keep 
his own conduct on a high moral plane. 

You can guide a youth, Kirtley tells us, in the 
course you want him to take, by the interest he 
takes in those who are going that way. What an 
extraordinary personality must have been that of 
Mike Murphy, late athletic coach of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, who could say to the men of a 
losing football team between halves, "If you can't 
win for the sake of Pennsylvania, if you can't win 
for the sake of your mothers and sweethearts, go 
into the game and win for me!" They won the 
game. How many professed adult leaders there 
are who could not say a thing like that without 
being laughed at? That such a man should live 
and not only talk so but be followed to victory is 
not at all incredible to your adolescent son. He 
has just felt that way toward some man himself. 

The girl's hero worship is as absorbing, and as 
potent for character molding as the boy's. Her 
hero may be her father, or some other man of her 
actual acquaintance, or he may be a character in 
history to which she is adapting her growth toward 
a complementary womanhood. 

But the "adoree" must be a tangible person. 
In the dramatic plays of childhood, she has "tried 
on" various characters as she saw them about her, 
and from the "feel" of them, she has built an 



100 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

ideal, has chosen the elements most to her liking 
and built them into an ideal. Now she must see 
hbw this ideal looks in actual life. The woman 
may be hardly more than a lay figure for this mar- 
velous drapery of perfection, but the girl is not 
conscious of that. If the parents have made it 
possible for the girl to know women who are both 
attractive and worthy, the girl will be pretty sure 
to choose for her worship one whose influence will 
be wholesome. Neither need the mother grieve 
that such intense affection is given to another. 
It is one of the ways in which the girl's horizon is 
widened and her experience deepened. 

Was Dr. Slaughter too emphatic when he said, 
"The chief value of great men is to fertilize the 
imagination of adolescents?" He was saying 
that heroes have not appeared in the world's 
history at random. They are the final expression 
of various vocational types— the sailor, the soldier, 
the engineer, the adventurer, the man of affairs. 
Thus they connect themselves with the interests of 
childhood, they inspire children and youth to fol- 
low them. It is of distinct advantage if young 
people can be brought into either personal or 
imaginative relations during adolescence with men 
who are leaders, particularly in the vocational 
fields towards which they themselves seem in- 
clined. Even better is it that they should know 



OP ADOLESCENTS 101 

a man or woman who is grandly following one of 
the idealistic callings. Some of us have felt that 
it was asset enough for such a life as his that Dr. 
Grenfell should come to the States every other 
winter from his heroic work in Labrador, simply 
that our younger people might meet him and grasp 
his hand. 

Responsibility 

Another ruling motive is that of responsibility. 
Many a boy will do work well if he is in charge of 
the job. Now, more than ever, we should give 
adolescent boys and girls opportunities to use 
their common sense. Resourcefulness and the 
power of initiative are important factors in the 
aim of American education. The responsibility 
of the government they cannot evade. In a 
democracy, the ability to originate and to direct 
affairs is priceless. 

This is perhaps the place in which to emphasize 
the value of dealing fairly with our young people 
in financial matters. In many homes there is no 
definite understanding as to what money shall be 
given to the children; in others the small allowance 
of earlier years has been continued, the parent 
carelessly thinking that it represents as much as 
the child ought to spend on his pleasures. The 
result is that when the boy or girl wishes any 



102 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

special indulgence, he goes to his father, who re- 
sponds according to his mood or immediate ability, 
Then he holds up his mother for the rest of the 
required amount. The father feels consciously 
that he is not handling this as he does other 
financial matters, the mother recognizes her weak- 
ness in yielding to entreaty, and the youth feels 
that he has been treated like a little child. 

The only proper way to treat a child in the home 
is to give him a weekly allowance, which will be 
one-fifty-second of the carefully estimated cost of 
his needs during the year, exclusive of board and 
such accidents as doctor's bills, to be paid over to 
the child without question every week. By this 
method, he gets an opportunity to learn the value 
of money by having enough with which to learn 
its value. 

It is not in the bath tub that we teach children 
to swim; we do not send them to school without 
text-books; yet we expect them to learn the uses 
of money without money. 

The value of the weekly allowance is in fact 
more than a device; it is a principle. The child, 
partly because of his preciousness and partly be- 
cause he is of some real value in the home, de- 
serves to be recognized as a sort of partner. 

The home is the fountain of democracy and its 
advantages for practice in co-operation should be 



OF ADOLESCENTS 103 

utilized to the full. What he receives should not 
be doled out as a sum given an infant, but a fair 
share of the family income should be his. In re- 
turn for this he should, of course, perform his 
share of service. What that service shall be 
should be put in the form of a contract at the 
time he begins to receive his income. The receipt 
of this allowance, like his father's receipt of salary, 
should depend upon his fulfillment of this con- 
tract. It is astonishing how far-reaching are the 
effects of this plan. It applies not merely to 
financial affairs but to the determination of other 
questions. The matter of money is so closely 
intertwined with all a young person's pleasures 
and problems that the placing of the youth upon 
his own responsibility and honor works out many 
difficulties of varied character. 

Kirtley has put the matter clearly in these 
words: "To some extent his work ought to have 
material remuneration. Often he wants no more 
than the pleasure of helping and the appreciation 
he deserves. Those two rewards must never fail 
to come. If there is no form of interest he can 
take in his work, it will become only eye-service. 
He will be at cross purposes with duty. Co-op- 
erative partnership is most congenial to him. It 
appeals to his self-respect, enlightens him about 



104 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

values and needs, and gives him an unselfish 
interest in others besides himself. 

"It is of the highest importance that he receive 
some of the rewards in order to gratify and train 
his sense of ownership and responsibility, to satisfy 
his sense of right and to secure the uncoerced 
co-operation of his will. The sharing may be in 
indirect ways. Even if his part goes back into 
the common fund for the support of the family, 
he is usually willing, provided he can have the 
pleasure of being in the combine, and can retain 
his sense of freedom. 

"His ownership of his earnings is to be recog- 
nized, even though he is not to be left without 
instructions as to the way he should handle them. 
Habits of thrift must be taught both in the work 
done and in the care taken of his possessions. 

"Possessions mean power, and thrift is prepara- 
tion for peace. He cannot take care of his own 
things unless he has a place for them which is his 
own. That is one of the reasons why a boy should 
have a room ; a trunk and all the equipment with 
which to take care of his things." 

It is hard for us to realize, as President King 
says, "that one of the inalienable rights of every 
human being is the right to make at least some 
blunders of his own." It is the rather startling 
theory of Gerald Stanley Lee that some people 



OP ADOLESCENTS 105 

by reading of sins in books, are prevented from 
committing some of their own. It may be that 
some of the faults of youth have a similar immun- 
izing value in forestalling more serious deeds that 
otherwise might be committed later. In learning 
to swim, we expect a boy to begin by floundering, 
nevertheless we put him in the water; in learning 
to play baseball or golf, we expect him to miss the 
ball, nevertheless we put into his hands the bat 
or the stick; we do not, however, show a similarly 
free willingness for actual experiment in other 
matters of choice. 

The boy wants to go to places where his parents 
feel they cannot permit him to go; other boys go, 
why not he? Is it not time that he was taught 
self-government and the sense of responsibility 
for his own behavior? Soon they cannot pre- 
vent him, as in the past, by simply prohibiting. 
"Would it not be wise to say," as an experienced 
mother suggested, "'Now, my son, it is time you 
learned to decide for yourself. Only a few years, 
and you must go from under the parental roof. 
Then mother and father may not be near to decide 
for you, even if you desire it, as no doubt you often 
will, so I shall not say you cannot go, but leave 
you to decide. You have perhaps had better 
teaching than some of the boys you mention; if so, 
more will be required of you by the hand of God. 



106 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

I have confidence in you, and believe you want to 
do right. I shall be glad to advise you, but must 
leave you to decide.' By this course you may 
teach him a lesson in self-government, which is so 
frequently neglected. When your boy gets from 
under restraint, never having exercised the power 
of self-government, of self-control, he often goes 
into vice, and we wonder why the children of good 
parents should turn out so badly." 

Girls also much need this practice in good judg- 
ment and self -direction. We have advocated 
during the earlier periods of childhood some meas- 
ure of natural penalty. We must still trust our- 
selves, and our youth to some extent, to this 
method. Since we can no longer punish them, 
we must allow them to punish themselves. While 
it sometimes seems to us that the results of their 
conduct in pain or loss of reputation are serious, 
these are bound to be less serious than if the 
mistakes were made later, when they are away 
from home, as they are bound to do if they do 
not learn self-government now. 

We speak of the self-assertiveness, the arro- 
gance and "cantankerousness" of youth so often 
seen in connection with a vivid sense of responsi- 
bility and free self -direction. " These sharp- 
cornered stones," says James P. Munroe, "which 
we builders would like to reject, may be made, on 



OF ADOLESCENTS 107 

the contrary, head of the corner in the boy's edu- 
cation, for it is these qualities which will most 
quickly respond to any moral appeal." 

"Sensitiveness" is another and very common 
characteristic of many girls and of some boys. 
If undirected, it leads to all sorts of misery for 
themselves and others. But it is the material 
out of which sympathy is made. Over-sensitive 
souls must be helped to see their privilege and their 
responsibility for a social use of their special 
make-up. 

Here is another argument for giving the adoles- 
cent youth a room of his own. He needs a sanc- 
tuary, he needs a place to be by himself where he 
can think out his long, long thoughts. He needs 
a chance to get out of the influence of his gang and 
even of his parents, so that he may become a per- 
sonality. Through the decoration of his room 
he can objectify his own thoughts, expressing his 
growing ideals through the articles, both useful 
and ornamental, with which he fills it. Here in 
hours of over-stress he can let off steam and make 
more noise than could be borne in any other part 
of the house. He will be fairly quiet everywhere 
else if he knows that there is one room always 
at his disposal for free self-expression. A boy as 
well as a girl sometimes wants to cry, and he ought 
to have the privilege of a wailing-post in solitude. 



108 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

The youth is brought to full individuality 
chiefly by the exercise of responsibility. "The 
majority of people who have been of the greatest 
service in the world," says Mrs. Birney, "are 
those who are capable of taking responsibility." 

Group Loyalty 

If the child has a normal social development, by 
the time he is ten years old he should find himself 
belonging to a gang or holding a recognized place 
in a group. By the time he has completed his 
twelfth year certain strong but tender sentiments 
bind him to his bunch of pals. 

This group loyalty, already awakened when the 
period of adolescence is reached, increases in 
intensity provided the gang in which membership 
is held had a progressively interesting program 
of activities. Thus a suitable play program for 
a group becomes a means whereby a youth's 
capacity for loyalty to social units or institutions 
is realized. He thus comes into possession of one 
of the great essentials of citizenship and Chris- 
tian character. 

The motive that unites a boy to the first gang in 
which he holds membership may be selfish. It is 
a means of getting what is otherwise beyond his 
reach. One boy, for instance, can "stand guard" 
while the others fill their pockets or blouses with 



OF ADOLESCENTS 109 

fruit. Later in some rendezvous, the harvest is 
equally shared. This selfish motive, however, is 
soon substituted for one that is unselfish. The 
youth discovers that to make a contribution to the 
welfare of the group is a source of joy. Loyalty 
reaches a higher moral plane when it is thus sus- 
tained by an unselfish motive. 

If the things for which the group stands are in 
harmony with the moral law and Christian ideals, 
then loyalty to that group becomes a powerful 
factor in regulating conduct properly. It keeps 
the youth from doing the things that are disal- 
lowed by a morally wholesome public opinion. 
It gives him practice in controlling his conduct 
so that it will be pleasing to others. His social 
imagination is also quickened. The fight be- 
tween his own gang and a similar though hostile 
group will help him later, more readily to ally 
himself to other adults in the attempt to overthrow 
a damaging social institution. One reason why 
many moral reforms proceed so haltingly is found 
in the lack of capacity for group loyalty on the 
part of the men and women of to-day. 

Chivalry 

The youth who hardly seems mature enough to 
accept responsibility for his own self proudly 
assumes the responsibility of caring for one 



110 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

younger or feebler than himself. It may be 
hardly ennobling for a woman to make an appeal 
of her own weakness, but it is always inspiring to 
appeal to a boy's strength on her behalf. 

Girls can be trained to accept this chivalry in 
a way that stimulates manliness, instead of with 
the self-conscious and selfish coquetry which 
spoils both the boy and the girl. The teacher in 
school, the leader in a summer camp, and the 
parent in the home find the youth who is asked to 
be responsible for the welfare of little folks seldom 
deserts or betrays his trust. "If he would be 
masterful, overbearing and pugnacious," says 
Munroe, "put him in charge of weaker or smaller 
boys, making him responsible for their safety, 
and, unknown to him, those wards of his will pro- 
tect him far more than he will them," 

In some neighborhoods emphasis should be 
placed upon the duty of teaching daughters to be 
chivalrous to their mothers. Why are we all 
under the impression that chivalry is a virtue 
becoming only to boys? Are not fathers some- 
times too inclined to like to hold companionship 
with the bright, prettily dressed daughter, while 
the plainly garbed mother who made the pretty 
clothes sits, somewhat overshadowed, in the 
background? Here is a new place for the chivalry 
of fathers and the righteous self-assertion of 



OF ADOLESCENTS 111 

mothers. What could be fairer than that the 
daughter who loves pretty things should learn to 
make them? Could we not mass the sensfe of 
fairness in the family in such a way that mother 
should get her rights and regain her place and that 
daughter should give her the deference which the 
Proverbs tells us belongs to the "virtuous" (or 
capable) woman? 

A Life Purpose 

Gradually out of the varied experiences of ado- 
lescence grows a life purpose. The reader may not 
at first agree with that strong statement of Presi- 
dent Eliot: "The career-motive holds more spirit- 
ual content than any other." Yet interpreting 
the phase broadly, is this not true? As soon as the 
youth has seized the helm of his own life, does he 
not find that he has repeated that critical experi- 
ence which came to Robert Louis Stevenson when 
he said, reverently, that, after a restless youth, 
trying to master himself, he came at length 
"right about" and discovered that he has been in 
charge of "the helmsman, God." 

"It is not of so much consequence," says Presi- 
dent Hyde, "what a boy knows when he leaves 
school, as what he loves." May not a part of the 
meaning of this statement be that his interests, 
his choice of a vocation, his friendships, his relig- 



112 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

ious purposes, all that constitute his life-ideal, 
are worth more than all his book-knowledge? 

That is one of the most vital matters to be 
looked out for in the girl's school, as well. In 
this new age, the woman's life is as subject to the 
hazard of change as is the man's. It is as impera- 
tive that it should be planned and prepared and 
directed with a conscious purpose of fitting the 
needs of the world, instead of being allowed to 
drift. 

Combination of Motives 

Let us not think that these ruling motives are 
like a set of push-buttons which, when pressed, 
in turn release certain currents of activity. They 
are rather like the notes of a piano, and the wise 
parent-player finds that he can make music, by 
playing them in chords. Felix Adler instances the 
virtue of cleanliness, which he says we may arrive 
at by appealing at one time to the aesthetic in- 
stinct, at another to the prudential, again to the 
motive of self-respect, to sympathy, and some- 
times to two or more of them at once. They all, 
he says, "say Amen! to the moral" instinct. 

Questions for Individual and Class Study 

1. Name seven of the ruling motives of adoles- 
cent young people. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 113 

2. How do you explain the fact that personal 
appearance is a serious concern during these 
years? 

3. Why do adolescent young people object to 
being odd? 

4. In what ways do they show dissatisfaction 
with the commonplace? 

5. What are some of the benefits of having a 
regular allowance? 

6. At what age should a boy or girl " go to work" 
and assume full responsibility for paying for board, 
room, clothes and recreation? 

7. How can a boy or girl decide what vocation 
to choose? 

8. How can girls be chivalrous? 

9. In what way does g?oup loyalty prepare 
young people for Christian citizenship? 

10. What is the influence of the "career-motive" 
upon character? 

11. How may the ruling motives of adolescence 
be combined? 



CHAPTER VII 
THE ADOLESCENT PRODIGAL 

The Prodigal 

Some adolescent young people endowed with 
exceptional vigor and precociousness do not yield 
readily to the influences which should be adequate 
to keep them within the bounds of good conduct. 
The play spirit seems to have gone wild. They 
are abnormally self-willed. They may be living 
in a world of baseless romance. An overpower- 
ing desire to know the world sets prudence aside. 
With the passions of maturity and the self-re- 
straint of childhood, the vigor of a man and the 
judgment of a boy. they are ripe for any course of 
conduct which suggests itself to them. 

Such boys or girls may drift into one of a number 
of different courses. They may play truant con- 
stantly or drop back of their grade in school; they 
may run away from home; they may, at home or 
elsewhere, become dissipated. In any case, they 
are likely to enter into many changes, perhaps 
failing in one school after another or in one posi- 
tion after another. They show a discouraging 
lack of aptitude for anything- in particular within 
the ordinary range of adolescent behavior. 

114 



OF ADOLESCENTS 115 

Juvenile Delinquency 

During the ten years from July 1, 1899, to June 
30, 1909, there were 11,413 boys and 2,770 girls 
who appeared in the juvenile courts of Chicago; 
228 of the boys appeared on two offenses. The 
nature of the offenses is indicated by the following 
list*: x 

Offenses Boys. Girls. 

Stealing 50.8% 15.0% 

Incorrigibility 21 .7 42.8 

Disorderly conduct 16.2 6.7 

Malicious mischief 6.5 0.2 

Vagrancy 2.3 0.1 

Immorality 1.6 31.4 

Dependent charges 0.8 3.3 

Truancy "... 0.7 0.0 

Miscellaneous 1.4 0.1 

Offense not given 0.0 0.4 

More than half (fifty-one per cent) of the boys 
were brought into court for the violation of prop- 
erty rights. Eighty-one per cent of the girls 
were classified as incorrigible, disorderly and im- 
moral. 

The age of these delinquent children and young 
people was as follows: 

* (The above chart and the succeeding four, together with 
some of the general conclusions are taken from "The Delin- 
quent Child and the Home," Breckenridge and Abbott, 
published by the Russell Sage Foundation) . 



116 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

Age Boys Girls 

7 0.4% 0.2% 

8 0.9 0.5 

9 3.2 0.9 

10 6.3 1.8 

11 9.6 2.5 

12 13.0 4.4 

13 14.6 7.3 

14 18.6 15 .« 

15 22.0 26.3 

16 9.6 23.8 

17 0.2 14.2 

18 0.0 0.5 
not reported 1.6 2.1 

"More than two-thirds of all the delinquent 
boys brought into court are from twelve to fifteen 
years of age." "On the other hand, a relatively 
large number of girls, 1,050, or thirty-eight per 
cent are brought in at the ages of sixteen to seven- 
teen." Signs of waywardness appear later among 
girls than among boys. Going to work often 
means that the boy will "settle down." With 
girls, it may mean the beginning of temptation. 

The economic condition of the families from 
which this large number of juvenile delinquents 
came is as follows: 

Family Condition Boys Girls 

Very poor. , 38.2% 68.8% 

Poor 37.9 21 .0 

Fairly comfortable 21.2 7.6 

Comfortable 1.7 1.3 

No home 1.0 l.S 



OF ADOLESCENTS 117 

Thus it would seem that "the families of the 
delinquent girls are of a lower grade than are 
those of the boys." "In round numbers nine- 
tenths of the delinquent girls and three-fourths of 
the delinquent boys come from the homes of the 
poor." In multitudes of instances, deliquency 
is youth's protest against being forced to go to 
work. It should be kept in mind, in connection 
with the above table, that in the families of the 
well-to-do, particularly, are many instances of 
incorrigibility and other forms of delinquency 
which fail to reach the attention of the juvenile 
court. 

Most eloquent are the figures indicating the 
fact that it is the orphan and homeless child — 
the child of misfortune — who is apt to become 
delinquent. 

Parental Condition Boys Girls 

Father dead 13.6% 17.8% 

Mother dead 8.9 12.7 

Both parents dead 3.1 6.3 

Separated or divorced 1.5 3.9 

Father deserted 1.6 3.6 

Mother deserted .8 .7 

Both parents deserted 1.0 1.2 

One or both parents in prison 0.1 .3. 

One or both parents insane or in institu- 
tion 3 .5 

One or both parents still " in old country" .1 .1 



118 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

Thus it appears that in a total number of 11,413 
boys who fell into the hands of the juvenile court, 
thirty-one per cent did not have normal parental 
care. In a total of 2,770 girls, over forty-seven 
per cent were living under similar misfortune. 
The primary need of the exceptionally vigorous, 
precocious, retarded or otherwise unusual youth 
is a home and good parents. 

That the next great need is a good school is sug- 
gested by a study of the school records of 262 
delinquent boys. The grades which marked the 
close of their school work were thus tabulated: 
Age Grade 





















High 


Per 




1st 


2nd 


3rd 


4th 


5th* 


6th 


7th 


8th School 


cent 


10 




1 






1 










.7 


11 














1 






.4 


12 








2 




1 




2 




1.9 


13 




1 


5 


8 


8 


8 


3 


7 




15.3 


14 


1 


6 


5 


16 


44 


29 


30 


11 




54.2 


15 




1 


2 


6 


4 


12 


8 


7 


1 


15.7 


16 or over 


1 




2 


2 


3 


8 


' 11 


2 


2 


11.8 



Only three of these boys ever reached high 
school. Only twenty-nine others got as far as 
the eighth grade; forty-five per cent did not get 
beyond the fifth grade; twenty-five per cent were 
below the fifth. Eighteen of the boys in the first, 
second, and third grades were fourteen years old 
or older. 

One of the startling facts revealed in a study of 
juvenile delinquency is the large number of in- 



OF ADOLESCENTS 119 

stances where the offense was that of stealing in 
order to secure play equipment. The homes of 
832 boys brought into the Chicago Juvenile Court 
in the years 1903-04 were located and it was 
found that only fifty-four per cent of the total 
number were within half a mile of any public 
place of recreation. That is, forty-six per cent did 
not have adequate opportunities for play. It is 
not so much that human nature is bad as it is that 
instinctive tendencies are not properly directed 
or have no adequate opportunities for wholesome 
expression. 

It is unfair to the child to be endowed with the 
desire for muscular effort, yearning for compan- 
ionship, delight in effort directed toward some end 
that involves risk and surprise, and other play 
impulses, and then to be deprived of suitable con- 
ditions under which to act. Not infrequently, the 
responsibility for the adolescent prodigal rests 
upon a prodigal city government, home, school or 
church, that does not have an intelligent appre- 
ciation of adolescent life or wilfully refuses to 
pay the price of coming into possession of such 
appreciation. 

When the vigorous play impulses undertake to 
find expression under conditions of poverty, 
family misfortune, parental delinquency, abnor- 
mal congestion, confusion and ignorance — such as 



120 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

is found in immigrant families facing the profound 
problem of adjustment — they are apt to con- 
stitute a problem for the juvenile court or volun- 
tary charitable organization. 

But the bad boy who appears before the judge 
of the juvenile court is not necessarily the product 
of poverty or of misfortune. "Even in the most 
respectable families there are boys who find the 
amusements provided by civilized life very dull 
and who must occasionally fare forth to feed the 
gnawing spirit of adventure." "The children of 
the poor are not more seriously delinquent than 
the children of the well-to-do, but rather — the 
offenses of the latter do not easily bring them 
within reach of the court. Bad children in good 
homes are for the most part disciplined at home or 
sent away to school, while bad children in poor 
homes get into the juvenile court." ("The De- 
linquent Child and the Home," page 160, 161.) 

Shall He Be Put to Work? 

When a working man finds his son restless or un- 
successful in school, he usually cuts the matter 
short by putting him to work. Sometimes this 
is the best course for those also who are not the 
sons of workingmen. If a child is suffering from 
too much luxury and ease or too much spending 
money or has become spoiled for serious work by 



OF ADOLESCENTS 121 

too much play and athletics, this may be just 
what he needs, and it may teach him the value 
of money and of school. 

The work chosen, however, should be selected 
chiefly for its educative rather than its financial 
interest. It is to be thought of as another kind 
of school. The youth still needs an education, 
and to put him into a blind-alley occupation will 
not only stop his education but take away his 
courage. The only possible advantage of this 
sort of drudgery is that he may get so tired of it 
as to choose school again in desperation. There 
is, no doubt, a type of boy who must get his edu- . 
cation in this way, and if ours be one of these we 
ought not to be discouraged if this turns out to be 
the course of study that fits him best. Sometimes 
superabundant energy put to work upon a busi- 
ness or a shop problem finds its own moral cor- 
rective by this means. With a precocious boy, 
work has the advantage of giving the body time to 
catch up with the mind, and it avoids the danger 
which comes from sending a child to college before 
he is old enough to appreciate the best things a 
college has to give. 

Shall We Send Him Away to School? 

Another alternative, adopted by many par- 
ents, is to send a difficult boy or girl away to school. 



122 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

This is to be done only as a last resort. If the 
parents are actually incompetent through ill- 
health or engrossment or lack of ability, this ex- 
pedient may be tried. The probability is that 
there are no persons on earth whom such a boy or 
girl needs so much at just this time, when he seems 
least to appreciate them, as his own parents. 
The moral effect of sending a child into exile is 
itself to be deprecated. 

Parents, too, sometimes forget that the kind of 
school which they choose as a retreat for their son, 
a military academy for example, has also been 
selected by the parents of a good many other boys 
like their own. Wise and skillful though the 
teachers of such an institution may be, the boy's 
character is shaped so much more by his fellow- 
pupils than by his masters that the moral results 
of such a polite reform school are often quite dis- 
appointing. There are a few schools where daily 
hard work, carried on with enthusiastic school 
spirit, is a part of the program in which a mis- 
understood boy may develop leadership, dis- 
cover himself and learn to appreciate his home. 

Shall We Let Him Wander? 

It is not so dangerous for a bright-minded boy 
to go out into the world and earn his living as some 
parents suppose. In some instances it seems 



OF ADOLESCENTS 123 

necessary to let the youth have free course for a 
while and provide for himself, while at the same 
time unobtrusively surrounding him with as 
many friends and helpful influences as possible. 

Influences That Will Bring Him Home 

The prodigal usually returns. One of many 
influences may bring him back. We are told of 
the prodigal in the parable that "when he had 
spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that 
land, and he began to be in want." The result 
of having his own way usually satisfies a lad with- 
in a short time. The time when he has used up 
his resources is apt to be coincident with the time 
when his new-found friends desert him and his 
new-found experiences pall upon him. 

Sometimes sickness of body and sometimes sick- 
ness of soul brings him back home. Sometimes 
he simply awakens from his illusions, and knows 
the truth that his best future is to be where he 
belongs. Again, his experiences may have dis- 
covered for him new purposes which he hastens to 
return to fulfill. 

As to which of the home influences is most 
powerful in leading him back, it would be hard to 
say. Home itself, with its food, its friendliness, 
its understanding, no doubt powerfully attracts 
him. The patient love of those who have awaited 



124 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

his return and will welcome him without upbraid- 
ing him is enough. Yet no doubt the homely in- 
fluence of force of habit underlies almost every 
prodigal's return. He simply cannot break the 
lengthening chain of right-doing which has been 
forged for him ever since he was a young child. 

Usually the combination of simplicity, drama- 
tized activities, patient companionship, a vaca- 
tion experience that takes him to some distant 
place or reveals another world, and a just but 
stringent financial allowance, while retaining the 
youth at home, will tide him over this time of un- 
rest until he awakens to better sense and self- 
command. Thirty days of labor voluntary on a 
♦ freight boat in the Great Lakes quieted one boy. 
Indeed it made him homesick. 

In reply to the question, "How can I gain the 
confidence of my daughter?" a wise mother has 
answered, "Never, never lose it; retain it, give 
sympathy, enter into all her plans and sympathize 
in all her trials; these may seem small to you, but 
they are her trials; and when you do not approve, 
do not be too stern and drive her from you; a 
word of advice and counsel will do more good than 
scolding and prohibiting." 

So anxious are parents and other adult leaders 
both as to the good conduct and the good reputa- 
tion of the young people in their charge that nearly 



OP ADOLESCENTS 125 

all need that admonition which is required more 
during this period than any other: Don't nag. 
It is hard to endure in silence the noisy turbulence, 
the ungoverned expressions of passion, the thought- 
less and selfish conduct of this era, but the parent 
or leader can never hold a large influence over his 
youth by being little himself. Do not descend 
to his level. It is the one who retains a certain 
large, tolerant attitude who reaches that happiest 
of all events, the time when the young man or 
woman actually wants his counsel and help. 

It is perhaps fortunate that during adolescence 
all boys and many girls tend to turn from their 
mothers to their fathers. Men, because of their 
broader daily experience, are supposed to look 
at things in a larger way, and the father who ap- 
preciates his privilege, ought at this time to be in 
a position to be trusted and depended upon as 
never before. 

Encouraging Factors 

There are some manifestations during this 
period usually considered trying that may be inter- 
preted as really what we like to call "good signs." 

The youth is garrulous. But this means that 
he is confidential. No matter if the boy bores 
you dreadfully with his football lingo, or the girl 
with her school gossip, be thankful that they 



126 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

trust you so as to want to tell you their secrets. 
Never shut that door. 

The youth is so susceptible to unworthy com- 
panions. But susceptibility is impartial. He 
must be equally susceptible to good ones, if they 
are as interesting. Help him to achieve better 
companionships. Don't try to shut that door. ' 

The youth is not studious. Maybe he is pro- 
tecting his health while growing, maybe not. 
The main point is not, What is he getting out of 
school but, What is he getting out of life? Life 
is more important than school. 

The youth has such crude moral conceptions. 
Crude, but strong. And did you never notice 
how true he is to the few conceptions that he has 
succeeded in mastering? 

The work is not to be judged till sundown. 

There are some responsibilities that neither 
parent nor teacher are called upon to share. 

Some Practical Suggestions 

Don't Nag. You only fray the already over- 
strung strings. You numb the attention so that, 
in self-defence, the children no longer hear what 
you say. 

Don't Snub. It paralyzes the minds of the 
children and checks their willingness to take you 



OF ADOLESCENTS 127 

into their confidence. It leaves a stinging sense 
of injustice. 

Don't Spy. Don't read your children's letters. 
Stop a correspondence if you think you have to 
and are sure you can, but do it because of what 
you know about the correspondent and not be- 
cause of what you have succeeded in reading of 
his letters. 

Don't Quell. You can't. You are not big 
enough. Don't start what you can't finish. 
If you could finish it, you would finish the child. 
To break his will is to injure his character per- 
manently. 

Don't coddle. Unless the children are really 
ill, remember that they can stand a lot, and will 
be the better for it. You are making men and 
women, not mollycoddles. 

Don't Hurry. "Time will unfold the calyxes 
of gold." Many things you are worrying about 
to-day will cure themselves to-morrow. Some of 
the best results that you desire are a process of 
years. " 

"Use your best mood" as often as you can. 
Be satisfied with your own mood before you try 
it on the child. Take more time to get into the 
right mood than you do to act. Most things are 
better decided over night. 



128 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

Results To Be Hoped For 

What may be hoped for is not finished charac- 
ters, fully matured judgments, perfectly polished 
manners, before the years of maturity. But one 
may hope for these: the general disposition to will 
well and wisely; the ability of these young people 
to propel themselves after the pushing from be- 
hind has ceased; undying affection for parent or 
teacher, coupled with growing appreciation of 
what he or she has meant to them; and the power 
of handing on to their descendants the goodly 
heritage of bodily, mental and moral soundness, 
with all that means to society and to the world. 

It is a task well worth all it costs. The price 
of saving a prodigal may be the real test of the 
adult leader's character. 

Questions for Individual and Group Study 

1. What are the chief causes of delinquenby 
among adolescent young people? 

2. At what age is it most apt to occur? 

3. What are some of the influences that prevent 
the developing of the disposition to "sow wild 
oats?" 

4. What is the influence of being put to work? 

5. When should an incorrigible boy or girl be 
§ent off to school? 



OF ADOLESCENTS 129 

6. What should be the attitude of the parent to- 
ward a run-away boy or girl? 

7. What effect does it have upon a boy or girl 
to be turned over to the police and the juvenile 
court? 

8. What influences will bring the prodigal back 
to himself? 

9. What are some practical suggestions in 
dealing with "high-strung" adolescents? 

10. If all adolescent boys and girls had the 
right kind of homes and other environmental in- 
fluences, would the juvenile courts wholly dis- 
appear? 



10 



CHAPTER VIII 

CHARACTER THROUGH PLAY INTERESTS 
AND ACTIVITIES 

One of the most effective methods of giving 
proper guidance to the conduct of adolescent boys 
and girls is that of helping them to become inter- 
ested in wholesome forms of play, and of properly 
supervising their leisure-time activities. To grow 
up with vulgar, untrained play interests or with 
the habit of spending leisure time in idleness, is to 
become limited in moral and social development. 
Suitable forms of play may be as educative, though 
in a different way, as are carefully selected courses 
of study. 

The Educative Value of Play 

"The craving for amusement is as fundamental 
and irresistible * as the craving for food." No 
parent or teacher who looks upon play as "a more 
or less permissible sin" can hope to understand 
adolescent life in its natural richness and fullness. 
Play is a "natural, right and beautiful expression 
of the human, spirit." It is a wholesome means of 
self -discovery. It awakens a spirit of optimism, 
loyalty, co-operation and competition which are 
fundamental in the building of character. Prop- 

130 



OF ADOLESCENTS 131 

erly supervised activities during leisure time can 
yield enlarged capacity for team-work, sensitive 
appreciation of justice and fair play, chivalry, 
perseverance, and heroic devotion. 

The folly of trying to guide the moral unfolding 
of adolescent young people through the wholesale 
repression of their play instincts is becoming 
widely recognized. Any church or home or school 
that does nothing toward the guidance of these 
splendid, God-given play impulses, except to 
offer solemn warnings concerning questionable 
amusements, merits both unpopularity and active 
hostility on the part of boys and girls of this age. 
Commercialized, professionalized and demoralized 
forms of amusements have multiplied with phe- 
nomenal rapidity largely because this whole area 
of adolescent human nature has been either 
ignored or put under the ban of suspicion by 
parents, teachers and preachers. The abundant 
Christian life during these years includes vigorous 
play experiences. It is the part of wisdom to help 
young people to make right choices rather than 
merely to point out the dangers of wrong choices. 

Parents in particular should never lose sight of 
the fact that when boys and girls begin to move 
out beyond the immediate range of their authority 
and the limits of the home circle, they are apt to 
make their first real contacts with the larger social 



132 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

order through membership in a play group. The 
moral ideals that are reflected in the leisure-time 
activities of these groups become almost as binding 
as the law of the Medes and Persians. 

Through play, young people can learn to govern 
themselves. The control of muscular movements 
is one of the primary lessons which athletes have 
to learn. Play teaches whole-heartedness. The 
careless or indifferent player is despised. The best 
forms of play require splendid self-control, keen 
interest, sustained attention, accurate knowledge, 
obedience to the leader, and group loyalty, as 
well as physical fitness. Whole areas of one's 
moral nature are realized when play ideals are 
high. To make oneself conform to such ideals 
during leisure-time activities has a twofold value. 
Through preoccupation of time and strength, it 
shuts out evil influences. It also gives one prac- 
tice in elevating forms of self-government and 
other forms of self-realization. Such experiences 
are vitally educative. 

Group Loyalty 

Boys and girls who live alone most of the time 
and have very few friends or playmates and no 
group games, are sure to be backward in their 
social development. They may even reach adult- 
hood without becoming skilled in team play or 



OF ADOLESCENTS 133 

developing capacity for institutional or social 
loyalty. Many churches and other organizations 
are weak because their adult members, never 
having learned the lessons of group play, are 
unable to work together. Their thoughts and 
sentiments are self-centered. They balk unless 
their own selfish interests are furthered through 
the common enterprise. They have never learned 
with the apostle Paul, how to put away childish 
things. Group games, if played successfully, in- 
volve mutual concessions and other personal ad- 
justment. But that which abides, as a lasting 
benefit, is the developed capacity to give oneself 
heartily for the success of a common enterprise. 
To think as one of a group of individuals and to 
have a share in group emotions and collective 
undertakings is to stimulate group loyalty. Thus 
out of adolescent play comes one of the most 
valuable traits of good character. 

Two Common Mistakes 

The shameful trickery adopted by some work- 
ers in using a temporary or superficial play pro- 
gram as the means of baiting young people — draw- 
ing them within the range of the influence of 
leaders whose sole motive is ecclesiastical or in- 
stitutional — stands exposed and condemned in the 
light of the true purpose of play. There are both 



134 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

legitimate and illegitimate methods of recruiting 
a church or a church school. It is true that some 
young people are caught by the use of wrong 
methods. But in such cases, it is necessary to 
count the loss as well as the gain. What about 
those who have seen through the trick and were 
not caught? 

Leaders who think of play merely as a device 
with which young people can be trapped and held 
long enough for them to become familiar with the 
ceremonies or beliefs of the church fail to under- 
stand the true nature of play and its place in 
building character. It is not merely a recruiting 
device. The church should supervise a program 
of play because of the physical, intellectual, social 
and even religious benefits that it brings to ado- 
lescent young people. A suitable program of play, 
properly administered, will be the most effective 
means of interesting irreligious young people in 
what the church is doing. It will touch the 
entire community. But that program should not 
be so modified as to serve this purpose alone. It 
should build up those already in the church as 
well as bring outsiders back into the fold. 

The other mistake is apt to grow out of a tend- 
ency to put a low value upon play. In making 
out the time schedule for the activities of a local 
church for a given season, the dates for the most 



OF ADOLESCENTS 135 

important events or activities are given first con- 
sideration. The affairs that are thought to be 
less important are crowded aside altogether or are 
placed at disadvantageous dates or locations. 
Sometimes the only choice involves direct com- 
petition with religious services which are looked 
upon as absolutely essential to the spiritual life of 
the church. How many churches make practically 
no provision for a clear evening devoted to the 
social or recreational activities of the young 
people ! And how often the seasonal programs of 
the different churches in a community make it 
impossible to carry out a co-operative program of 
recreation. If the church has a definite responsi- 
bility for the play life of its young people, it 
should provide suitable times and places in its 
schedule of dates and its plans for the use of the 
church plant. 

Social Development through Play 

Social development through play has three dis- 
tinct stages during adolescence: First, from the 
twelfth to the fourteenth or fifteenth year, it is 
the group, class, set, troop or team to which the 
individual is loyal. Interest centers in the plans 
or welfare of the whole group. Above the indi- 
viduals who go to make up the circle — yet within 
it, is the outstanding individual — the leader. 



136 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

Second, during middle adolescence, certain 
individuals within the group awaken special ap- 
preciation. They make an appeal that is stronger 
than that of the others. There is a sensitive ap- 
preciation of the personal influence of each member 
of the group. 

Third, this social specialization becomes more 
intense, usually, after the eighteenth year. It 
also involves those of the opposite sex. This 
does not mean that the earlier group loyalty 
to the smaller circle of intimate friends is aban- 
doned. These friendships are conserved and 
form a vital background for this higher specializa- 
tion. Young people like to form their particular 
friendships in the midst of social occasions when 
other friends are present. 

Sex consciousness is naturally reflected in the 
play activities of adolescents. Boys and girls 
should be permitted to play together frequently 
as groups while they are of Scout or Trail Ranger 
age. Where the form of organization in the 
church school, the organized class, can be pre- 
served as the group units for play purposes, this 
should be done and provision should be made for 
inter-class games and other recreational activities. 
These inter-sex relationships will naturally be- 
come more intense and specialized as young 
people advance toward adulthood. A play pro- 



OF ADOLESCENTS 137 

gram which does not make provision for this sex 
aspect of social development is both faulty and 
harmful. 

Nature of Adolescent Play 

Whenever the full range of play interests and 
impulses is given expression and activity is spon- 
taneous and free, there is awakened a spirit of 
adventure, a yearning for distant realities, a desire 
for high achievement, a readiness to sacrifice self, 
a wholesome interest in personal appearance, and 
personal appreciation of playmates. In planning 
a play program for these years, the leader, whether 
he is parent, teacher or other adult leader, must 
have an active imagination, good prudential 
judgment and an all-embracing sympathy. Above 
all he must have the power to awaken the 
play spirit. The sail-boat or canoe symbolizes 
the spirit of adolescent play as well as its dangers 
and need of a steady hand. 

Young people crave those forms of play into 
which they can throw their whole selves, or at 
least those portions of their selves that have not 
found expression in study and other forms of work. 
The pent-up ideals, enthusiasms and loyalties, 
the interest in skill, beauty and power, the muscu- 
lar intoxication, fondness for rhythm, romance, 
and adventure, all suggest how richly varied and 



138 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

intense must be this ideal program of play. Mere- 
ly to warn against the dangers of wrong methods of 
expressing these play impulses and at the^same 
time, to provide no adequate substitutes for pop- 
ular forms of commercialized, professionalized 
and demoralized amusement is to reveal either 
ignorance and incompetence or a lack of faith in 
adolescent boys and girls. 

The Ideal Program — Early Adolescent 
Period 

The ideal play program and organization for 
boys and girls of early adolescent age who belong 
to graded church schools, will have to be fashioned 
in accordance with the following principles: 

1. It will be more like an educational movement 
within the churches than a preconceived and 
closed system of specific activities produced in- 
dependently of the churches and handed over to 
them. 

2. Its program will be so elastic and its sugges- 
tions so varied and practicable, that it will be 
adaptable, easily, to the needs of local churches, 
schools, and neighborhood family groups. 

3. One of its primary concerns will be that of 
selecting and training adult leaders who' are loyal 
to the homes, the churches, and the public schools 
to which the boys and girls belong; who are 



OF ADOLESCENTS 139 

capable of arousing and sustaining the play spirit; 
and whose personalities are such that association 
with them will greatly increase the social, moral, 
and religious inheritance of the coming generation. 

4. Its program and organization will be such 
as to make a direct and vigorous appeal to the 
natural, spontaneous, play interests of early 
adolescent youth. In this particular it will be as 
scientifically graded as the instruction given in 
the schools. 

5. Through it the entire system of formal re- 
ligious and ethical instruction provided for this 
age by the church schools will be concerned and 
made increasingly influential factors in the lives 
of the boys and girls. It will be so administered 
that they will look upon the church as the best 
patron of their play. This correlation between 
instruction and play will facilitate the use of 
teachers as supervisors of play. 

6. While there will have to be two distinct 
programs, one for boys and one for girls, the two 
will be similar in the majority of the activities 
provided. Definite provision will be made for 
groups of boys and of girls to play together as 
groups. 

7. There will be generous provision made for 
all sorts of out-door activities. Camping, wood- 
craft, hiking, trekking, out-door plays and games, 



140 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

nature study, and out-door sports will awaken 
enthusiasm. The church school camp will be a 
conspicuous feature. 

8. There will be relatively little ritual of 
ceremony. A minimum of formality will charac- 
terize the in-door and out-door meetings. The 
emphasis will be upon varied physical activities 
that appeal to the imagination and which other- 
wise conform to the laws of physical education. 

9. The unit of organization will be clearly de- 
fined, eight being the most satisfactory number 
for the purpose of directing multiple behavior. 
Group ideals and commonly accepted principles 
of practical ethics will be made effective through 
group loyalty and appreciation of the adult leader. 

10. It will have to be a program in which all of 
the denominations can co-operate, which con- 
serves denominational loyalty in a wholesome way, 
and under the national leadership of men and 
women of recognized official standing within the 
churches. 

11. It will take account of the hobbies of in- 
dividual boys and girls, imparting much valuable 
pre-vocational information and skill. 

12. The use of a special uniform or other sym- 
bol of common interests and loyalties is a psy- 
chological necessity growing out of the newly 
awakened self -consciousness of early adolescence. 



ad£fp4 



OF ADOLESCENTS 141 

13. Its principles of organization will be such as 
to place the task of self-government progressively 
in the hands of the boys and girls themselves. 
Thus capacities for leadership will be discovered 
and realized. The art of directing the activities 
of others will be mastered wherever leadership 
capacities exist. Out of it will come strong civic 
and religious leaders. 

14. Through the maintenance of distinct de- 
partments at National Headquarters and the em- 
ployment of specialists, an invaluable and nation- 
wide service will be rendered in combatting the 
influence of bad literature, in stimulating good 
reading, and in awakening interest in clean ath- 
letics and other profitable leisure-time activities. 

15. The entire program will be so formulated 
and administered that the awakening community 
consciousness and sense of civic responsibility will 
be greatly stimulated and re-enforced by intelli- 
gent loyalty to home, church, and public school — 
the most important component parts of the com- 
munity. 

The Ideal Program — Middle Adolescence 

The ideal play program and organization for 
middle adolescent youths who belong to graded 
church schools will recognize the following prin- 



142 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

ciples in addition to those numbered 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 
10, 11, 13, 14 in the above list: 

1. The adult leader will be less and less con- 
spicuous. He will provide for greatly increased 
opportunities for practice in leadership. The 
boys and girls will be given greater freedom and 
responsibility in initiating and carrying through 
plans for their leisure time. 

2. Loyalty to the community will be a con- 
spicuous part of this program. Rapid increase 
in civic knowledge and skill will be provided for. 
Play, in many instances, will merge into practical 
forms of community civics. 

3. This program and organization will have to 
be very distinct from that provided for early 
adolescents. The Canadian program in which 
boys from twelve to fourteen years of age are 
called "Trail Rangers" and those of fifteen to 
seventeen years, "Tuxis Boys," shows great prac- 
tical wisdom. (" t" and "s " stand for training for 
service; "u" and "i," for you and I; and "x" 
for Christ at the center.) 

4. A greater amount of secrecy and formality 
and the "trappings of ritual" will be included in 
this program. The well-known popularity of 
secret societies and high school fraternities is sug- 
gestive. 

5. Greater attachment between individuals, a 



OP ADOLESCENTS 143 

quickened social imagination, romantic idealism, 
and general personal sensitiveness all require that 
mechanical notions of organization must give 
way, now, to those that are more spiritual. Per- 
sonalities must be taken into account. 

6. Specialization in play is also beginning to 
appear. These young people tend more and 
more to select the types of recreation that appeal 
particularly to themselves as individuals. There 
is less of mere common play interest. The pro- 
gram must be in a true sense, their own. 

7. Middle adolescent young people must be 
carefully protected from the harmful results of an 
excessive program of leisure-time activities. In- 
terests are so personal and so intense that it is 
easy for health to become permanently injured by 
excessive indulgence in play. 

8. The amateur spirit will be carefully pre- 
served in all athletic, and in the majority of the 
vocational activities. 

Play and Recreation for Later Adolescent 
Young People 

There are eight principles that need to be recog- 
nized by those who are responsible for the leisure- 
time activities of young people, eighteen to 
twenty-four years old. 

1. Their recreational needs and interests are 



144 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

determined largely by the social, educational and 
vocational groups to which they belong. The 
same program will not appeal equally to college 
students and mill hands, or to girls attending a 
finishing school and those working in a depart- 
ment store. To be truly recreational, play activ- 
ities should supplement or round out the program 
of work. 

2. Play must now be carefully regulated in the 
light of the study program or other responsibili- 
ties. Vitality is not limitless. Nervous ex- 
haustion and even permanent ill health is the 
price too frequently paid for an excessive play 
program during these years. 

3. To keep the ethical standards of the in- 
dividual pure and high now involves the elevation 
of the current or popular opinions of the entire 
school or community. The boy or girl who shuns 
oddity with instinctive spontaneity and persever- 
ance has a hard time to hold play ideals that are 
above those of "all the others." 

4. The rate of development — intellectual, phys- 
ical and social — must be taken into account. At 
nineteen, some young people are but fourteen 
years old in their social development. An indi- 
vidual may be precocious or belated in the devel- 
opment of any aspect of his nature. Play, in 
order to be spontaneous and natural, must take 



OF ADOLESCENTS 145 

into account the actual stage of development 
rather than the mere number of years of physical 
existence. 

5. Social interests and sentiments now tend to 
become intense and focussed upon a few indi- 
viduals. This is the age of confidences. Love 
between the sexes is the most powerful influence 
determining the character of play. After ten 
years of experience in supervising the leisure-time 
activities of young people in a social settlement 
house, a careful and mature student of this ques- 
tion gave it as his opinion that the most popular 
forms of play are first, dancing; second, debating 
and dramatics. 

6. Young people of this age resent what appears 
to them to be interference on the part of older 
people. They like to direct their own affairs. 
Instinctively, they avoid personal embarrassment. 
They enjoy a large measure of self-direction. 
They face responsibility gladly. Achievement is 
their great watchword. If the supervisor or 
chaperon is tactful and has an abundance of com- 
mon sense, however, his services are keenly 
appreciated. 

7. Play is now so permeated with the spirit of 
altruism and practical idealism that often it takes 
the form of serious endeavor. This play spirit 
is naturally carried over into the field of actual 



146 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

toil. Abounding energy and sense of mastery 
are dominant even in the closing hours of a hard 
day's work. For these young people to succumb 
to a spirit of drudgery and mere routine fidelity is 
unnatural. 

8. Play of some appropriate kind is necessary 
to keep life from growing old prematurely. Peo- 
ple grow old because they cease to play, rather 
than cease to play because they grow old. 

9. The play program for these years should 
involve consecutive, cumulative interest. Plans 
should be laid that involve several weeks or 
months of uninterrupted activity or interest. 
They should cover an entire season. When plans 
are laid in the Fall for a dramatic or other pro- 
duction to be presented in the Spring, there is no 
break in the interest of the young people; but, on 
the other hand, it increases in intensity through 
the months. 

10. The best kinds of play are those that have a 
direct bearing upon the outlook into the immedi- 
ate future. These are the golden years of prep- 
aration for civic, social, economic responsibility. 
Hence, the play program should be supervised by 
those permanent institutions to which the life- 
long loyalty of these young people should go out, 
and which will conserve the abiding influence of 
their lives. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 147 

Some Practical Suggestions 

The primary responsibility of adult supervisors 
of play or leisure-time activities is to help the boys 
and girls to get into a happy, playful mental 
condition. When pleasurable emotions are upper- 
most, the problem of finding suitable games or 
other play programs is simplified. 

A definite program should always be mapped 
out. Idleness or aimless activity is not play. 
"Work well done is the best of fun." The gang 
of loafers standing on the street-corner do not 
have as enjoyable a time as do those with a defin- 
ite plan to be carried through. A so-called 
hike is no hike at all unless it takes the hikers to a 
certain place and for a specific purpose. 

Adolescent boys and girls should never get the 
notion that for the best kinds of play, they must 
go beyond the active interest and range of the 
home, church and school. The responsibility 
for play activities is coming to rest definitely 
upon the church school. This responsibility 
should not be shirked. These boys and girls 
should come to the conviction that there is no 
fundamental antagonism between the church's 
system of formal religious instruction and its plans 
for their play. 

Leadership in play and recreation comes only as 
the result of careful study and training. It is not 



148 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

everybody's business. It involves an art, a tech- 
nique that is clearly defined and which should be 
patiently mastered before large responsibility is 
assumed. 

Questions for Individual and Group Study 

1. What are some of the moral benefits resulting 
from wholesome play? 

2. Why is it dangerous to try to repress the 
play spirit of adolescent boys and girls? 

3. Point out the responsibility of the church 
for the amusement and recreation of its young 
people. 

4. Why is it wrong to use play merely as a 
means of recruiting the church school? 

5. What is the responsibility of the home in this 
regard? 

6. When is it wrong for young people to dance? 

7. What are the chief characteristics of play 
during early adolescence? 

8. Middle adolescence? 

9. What eight principles should be recognized 
in planning a play program for later adolescents? 

10. Why should the churches of each com- 
munity co-operate in providing a joint play 
program for all the people? 

11. Point out some practical suggestions for 
leaders of recreational activities. 



CHAPTER IX 

PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 
FOR EARLY ADOLESCENCE 

The entire task of religious education during 
the years twelve, thirteen and fourteen may be 
summarized briefly in the following ten laws: 

I. The Law of the Expanding Life 

During these years there is a remarkable in- 
crease of newly awakened instincts, interests, de- 
sires, and impulses. In this rapidly broadening 
and deepening current of experience, are found 
yearning for personal expression and apprecia- 
tion, joy in escape from the commonplace — from 
merely routine or habitual living, desire to belong 
to a social group, interest in the simplest forms of 
leadership, love of adventure, ready appreciation 
of humor, hunger for varied sensuous experience, 
keen delight in rhythmical muscular movements 
and in skillful achievements, readiness to enter 
into competition or into co-operation, yearning for 
distant realities, fondness for books that picture 
thrilling situations, appreciation of aesthetic 
values. A flood-tide of new interests has set in. 
Habits are broken up. It is the time of the soul's 

overflow. 

149 



150 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

After a rain, the clay road on a country hillside 
is deeply cut with grooves made by the wagon- 
wheels. These deep grooves harden with the 
returning sunlight and dry winds. Then comes a 
heavy shower. For a time, the water is readily 
carried off by running in the courses made by the 
wagon-wheels in the plastic clay. But as the 
volume of water is increased, the grooves become 
full and overflow. Then it is that new courses are 
cut and finally a large channel is worn in the high- 
way. Habits, like these ruts, are capable of car- 
rying the current of life during later childhood. 
But with the coming adolescence, life overflows 
them and many are swept aside by the deepening 
current. 

Christianity is the religion of the abundant life. 
Christ came that these boys and girls might have 
adolescent life in abundance. Religion must 
therefore expand with this expanding life. Re- 
ligious habits, such as church attendance, daily 
prayer and Bible reading are put under a heavy 
strain to hold these new spiritual out-reachings. 
The forms, customs and regulations of childhood 
should now become elastic. 

II. The Law of Transition 

Help these boys and girls to make the transition 
from external to internal moral control; from 



OF ADOLESCENTS 151 

implicit obedience to external authority to that of 
conscientious self -guidance; from habit, guided 
by the approval or disapproval of parents or other 
adult leaders, to habit built up through spontane- 
ous desire and voluntary choices. During this 
transition, however, let there be no decrease in 
the honor or respect shown to parents and to all that 
is worthy in family traditions and home influences. 

These are the years when boys and girls are 
neither children nor youths. They are in a transi- 
tory stage. Many of the marks of childhood are 
still upon them, but there is an up-reaching, an 
independence, a restlessness of mind and body 
which indicate the dawning of youthful qualities. 
They are too young to proceed upon the assump- 
tion that they can disregard the counsel and 
wishes of parents. Yet parents should give them 
a larger measure of self-direction. 

It is positively dangerous from the standpoint 
of moral development for a fourteen year old boy 
or girl to get the notion that self-will should be 
regarded in preference to every other will. If the 
new sense of freedom is overstimulated and the 
parental or other adult will is defied or deliber- 
ately ignored, it is easy to begin a career of in- 
corrigibility, lawlessness, and even of crime. To 
refer to father as "the old man" is to reflect a 
state of mind that should be set aside for one 



15 2 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

showing proper regard for a will and moral judg- 
ment superior to one's own. To sustain their 
filial devotion takes much of the crisis out of these 
critical years. 

The most prevalent weaknesses to be guarded 
against are flippancy, carelessness, irreverence, 
unkindness, recklessness, impatience, and exag- 
geration. The new sense of freedom is apt to 
carry them too far. There is a tendency to dis- 
card old things before those things have ceased 
to be useful. In this state of mind, respect for 
proper authority easily slips away. 

III. The Law of the Creative Imagination 

The imagination of early adolescence is far more 
active than in the preceding years. It is re-en- 
forced by the new desires, impulses, interests, and 
emotions which are now awakened. It has the 
power to reassemble the mental pictures that have 
had their origin in actual experience. But these 
new pictures and visions have their setting in the 
midst of warm emotions and vigorous impulses. 
They have more substance and a greater amount 
of originality. The early adolescent imagination 
is creative. 

This splendid power of the mind moves out 
instinctively along several lines but chiefly in the 
direction of that which is motor and social. Phys- 



OF ADOLESCENTS 153 

ical achievements that awaken the praise of the 
other members of the gang or that surpass the 
record which some one else had made are the 
sources of real pleasure. Ideals of both skill and 
endurance are held vividly before the mind. Like- 
wise the stories of heroes, adventurers, and mis- 
sionaries make a profound appeal. There is an 
almost intuitive appreciation of the kinds of con- 
duct that will awaken the admiration of others of 
one's own kind. 

Guide the moral imagination of these boys and 
girls directly toward the transcendent Jesus 
Christ. Let Him be the ultimate concrete reality 
in which their moral idealism finally rests; let 
them feel that higher than He, there are no 
values. Provide practice in those forms of devo- 
tion which strengthen the personal bonds be- 
tween them and Jesus, their friend and hero. To 
this end, as far as possible, simplify the religious 
organizations which provide programs of study, 
worship and expressional activities. Encourage 
those forms of service in which the moral imagina- 
tion influenced or standardized by admiration of 
Jesus can find adequate expression. 

IV. The Law of the Reading Craze 

The so-called reading craze reaches its point of 
greatest intensity at about the fourteenth year. 



154 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

If an abundance of interesting books are available, 
the average boy or girl will then spend more time 
in reading than in any other form of leisure-time 
occupation. An abundance of biography and 
fiction saturated with human values and breath- 
ing the spirit of adventure, loyalty, heroism and 
chivalry should be placed in their hands. Culti- 
vate in them a taste for the best literature. The 
right kind of books can be used to strengthen 
memory, stimulate social imagination, quicken 
wholesome impulses, enrich the emotional life, 
disengage moral energy, provide spiritual insight. 
Clothe all religious instruction, therefore, with 
life — active, heroic, throbbing, divine life. For 
it is imagination that stimulates imagination; 
sympathy nourishes sympathy. At the time of 
the soul's overflow, there shall be intimate famil- 
iarity with the biographies of those great char- 
acters whose souls had the mature power of over- 
flow. 

But the other side of this question needs most 
serious consideration. A few years ago, cheap, 
degrading books circulated rather freely, though 
often in a clandestine way, among boys and girls 
of this age. The day of the "dime novel" is past, 
however, for the motion picture shows are gather- 
ing in so many of the dimes. This same trash, 
fearfully injurious to the imagination, positively 



OP ADOLESCENTS 155 

harmful in its influence upon moral judgments 
and religious sentiments, has now reappeared in 
thirty-five cent and fifty-cent editions and is pur- 
chased as gifts by adults who are ignorant of the 
nature of their contents. Some of them are found 
in church school libraries and many department 
stores handle them in large quantities. Eternal 
vigilance is the only price of safety from their 
damaging effects. 

V. The Law of the Play Life 

Play is best understood as those forms of ac- 
tivity in which the mind, while controlled by 
pleasurable emotions, finds expression without 
serious difficulty. If people are happy, they tend 
to play. The early adolescent mind is so full of 
enthusiasm, optimism, confidence, and eager an- 
ticipation that it is very apt to express itself in 
some form of play. That is, play becomes a most 
vital factor during these years. 

Provide a suitable all-the-year-round program 
of recreation and tactfully administer it. Boys 
and girls can now play together with great profit 
if they have proper supervision and play together 
as groups. For one or two weeks, live with them 
in the church school camp. Here let all whole- 
some play impulses have fullest expression with- 
out the suggestion that Christian ideals are there- 



156 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

by violated. Let the church be the best patron of 
their play. Do not let them arrive at the conclu- 
sion that in order to find the best, the most ap- 
pealing play or amusement, they must go beyond 
the program and influence of the church and 
church school. 

It is expected that our adolescent boys and 
girls will develop increasingly substantial loyalty 
to their churches. But it is frequently forgotten 
that this loyalty must be nourished by experi- 
ences yielding a maximum of pleasure. It is dif- 
ficult for young people to be increasingly loyal to 
an institution that does not minister to their 
whole lives— to every part of their natures. Their 
sense of value unconsciously unfolds in an atmos- 
phere which kindles pleasurable emotions. 

VI. The Law of Individual and Group 
Service 

The budding altruism of early adolescence 
needs to be guided into simple and practical forms 
of service. The habit of the daily good turn, 
supported by religious motives and free from a 
spirit of self -righteousness, should be built up dur- 
ing these years. In providing awards or recogni- 
tion for such service, have a care not to injure or 
contaminate what should be the pure altruistic 



OF ADOLESCENTS 157 

motive. Diligently avoid whatever tends to stim- 
ulate a spirit of Phariseeism. 

The suggestion of William James: "Strike 
while the iron is hot" is especially pertinent in this 
regard. Every adult Christian should have as 
his permanent possession a state of mind which 
naturally, easily, habitually finds expression in 
service to others. The most strategic and educa- 
tionally economical time for the establishment of 
this habit is while the youth is socially sensitive, 
instinctively interested in the welfare of others. 
Practice in being of service is easier and much more 
pleasant if it is part of the recognized program 
of a social group in which membership is held. 

If the Church needs mature members who are 
habitually generous, self-sacrificing, and loyal, it 
should make provision for its young people to 
have practice in these virtues during that period 
when practice will have the greatest influence in 
permanently molding character. The splendid 
group loyalties of early adolescence make it re- 
latively easy for these boys and girls to give 
themselves freely in service to others. 

VII. The Law of Conscience 

The most important moral task which the child 
faces during the first dozen years of his life is that 
of building a conscience. The material out of 



158 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

which he builds it is the moral judgments of his 
parents, teachers, and others who help him to 
control and to guide his conduct. If they are 
consistent, certain moral preferences will be estab- 
lished within his own mind. 

Equipped with these preferences for certain 
kinds of behavior, the child passes over into the 
period of youth. The task of moral self -direction 
or guidance is now taken up. He is conscious of 
the fact that some kinds of conduct yield pleas- 
ure and others, pain or annoyance. He feels the 
former to be righteous and the latter, sinful. The 
voice of conscience is recognized as the voice of 
God. 

But life is now so enlarged that this newly 
functioning conscience has difficulty in deciding 
all of the moral questions that arise. For each of 
these boys and girls, therefore, provide the help 
that comes from intimate association with a man 
or woman whose Christian conduct is set in heroic 
mould, whose own religious life retains its adoles- 
cent qualities, who incarnates their personal ideals. 
Beyond this, arrange for frank, personal confer- 
ences in order to help them solve the innumerable 
practical problems of everyday, Christ-like living 
and service. If their home and school environ- 
ment offer little direct help and encouragement 
in solving these problems, redouble thy diligence. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 159 

Provide wise answers to such questions as "Can 
a person be a Christian and . . . ?" Dili- 
gently avoid the inculcation of that unnatural, 
extreme spirituality that will cause them finally 
either to enter a monastery or convent. Do not 
pitch conscience in too high a key. 

Guard also against pitching it in too low a key. 
Moral carelessness or looseness is most damaging 
during the years twelve to sixteen or seventeen. 
To fail to possess a wholesome and sensitive con- 
science at the time when later adolescence is 
reached is most dangerous. 

VIII. The Law of Repentance and Confession 

During these years, conscience is tender and 
inexperienced. The power of consistent moral 
self-control has not yet been acquired. Errors in 
judgment and in action are inevitable even under 
the most favorable circumstances. Carefully 
guard early adolescent boys and girls from temp- 
tation. 

But if, by any chance, sin should appear in 
their lives, give thy utmost dilligence to teach 
them the sweet exercise of repentance and con- 
fession. Do not let the memories of sinful actions 
lie buried in the mind as permanent annoyers. 
Moral perspective is injured by it. Show them 
how to secure divine forgiveness. Help them to 



160 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

enjoy the relief which Christ, the Saviour, offers 
to the penitent mind. Save them from the moral 
misery and mental wretchedness of arrival at ma- 
turity without having acquired the power to re- 
pent and to clear the mind of a gnawing sense of 
sin. 

IX. The Law of Church Membership 
At this time when there is an instinctive de- 
sire to belong to social groups, the psychological 
foundation of church membership is provided. 
No boy or girl should pass through the period of 
early adolescence without having the privilege of 
satisfying this natural desire to unite with the 
church. The high spiritual ideals of the church 
are not a barrier now as they will be if membership 
is deferred until adulthood shall have been 
reached. It is a definite part of the adult leader's 
responsibility to awaken and strengthen the desire 
for fellowship within an organized group of fol- 
lowers of Jesus Christ. 

Give such explanations of the common beliefs, 
ceremonials and practices of this holy institution 
as will make membership within it meaningful, 
helpful, joyful. These boys and girls should now 
begin to grow into the common beliefs and prac- 
tices of the church rather than be permitted to 
form erratic or arbitrary beliefs and attitudes 



OF ADOLESCENTS 161 

which will greatly increase the practical difficul- 
ties of their joining the church in later years. 

It is of special advantage that this desire to 
identify oneself with the organized forms of Chris- 
tianity have the hearty approval of parents. In 
those cases where parents object, it will usually 
be found that they do not fully understand the 
advantages that will come to their child if he 
takes this important step. 

X. The Law of the Fuller Life 

Early adolescent loyalty to the church school 
and the church, to parents and other members of 
the family, to the public school, and to the play 
group directed by leaders who are themselves 
loyal to Christ and His Church, constitute the 
best preparation for the years of storm and stress 
which follow immediately. A balanced program 
of activities leads in the direction of a balanced 
character. Leisure-time occupations should be 
consistent with and re-enforce the lessons in- 
cluded in the program of formal religious instruc- 
tion. It is the one who, himself, is living the fuller 
life who can appreciate the personal qualities of 
a hero like Paul or Moses or Elijah. In develop- 
ing along the lines of the four-fold standard, it 
will be discovered that body helps mind no less 

than mind helps body; that religion helps both 
12 



162 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

as well as purifies and strengthens the social 
nature. 

This fuller life comes as the result of youth's 
endeavor to realize the ideal. Imagination is 
active. Present attainments do not satisfy. 
There is an inevitable up-reaching and out-reach- 
ing that is satisfied only by a sense of the expan- 
sion of life. It is the time of " strikingly pure ideal- 
ism." There is a genuine interest in victory over 
weaknesses or discovery through new and en- 
larging experience. It is not only the body but 
also the spirit that is restless and eager to grow. 
With Saint Augustine, the early adolescent can 
truly say: Thou hast made us for Thyself and 
our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee. Re- 
ligion is now personal. Life takes on its natural 
richness and fullness only when it comes into vital 
possession of the truths that have nourished the 
lives of heroes and saints. 

Questions for Individual and Group Study 

1. If an early adolescent boy or girl wants to 
become a member of a church and the parents are 
unwilling, should membership in the church be 
postponed or denied? 

2. Under what circumstances is it right for a 
thirteen-year old to be disobedient to his parents? 



OP ADOLESCENTS 163 

3. In what ways does life expand during this 
period? 

4. Point out some of the physical, mental and 
social differences between a normal ten-year-old 
boy and the same boy three years later. 

5. Why is suitable recreation especially import- 
ant during early adolescence? 

6. Explain the educational value of the "read- 
ing craze" if properly directed. 

7. Why does the character of Jesus make a 
special appeal to early adolescent young people? 

8. Discuss the practical problems of e very-day 
Christian living during the years twelve, thirteen 
and fourteen. 

9. Why is it dangerous for these young people 
to violate conscience? 

•10. Why is membership in a church a vital 
spiritual need of this period of development? 



CHAPTER X 

PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 
FOR MIDDLE ADOLESCENCE 

I. The Law of the Integrating Personality 

The period of the awakening personality is fol- 
lowed by that of the integrating personality. 
During middle adolescence, the youth faces the 
task of assembling all of the desires, sentiments, 
ideals, impulses, habits, preferences, loyalties, in- 
terests — all of the parts of his personality which 
he has realized during the preceding years. He 
must find and cherish the true center of his own 
selfhood. Centripedal forces are at work. He 
needs to discover some method of achieving integ- 
rity or a plan of organizing all of the component 
parts of his character. The parts must be as- 
sembled according to some plan. 

It is because his religion is the supreme value — 
the natural center around which all else should be 
organized — that religious education is so important 
during these years. Any attempt to integrate all 
of the parts about some other center such as pleas- 
ure or a career, group loyalty or chivalry, will fail 
to bring ultimate harmony, simplicity and great- 
est strength. 

164 



OF ADOLESCENTS 165 

II. The Law of a Single Loyalty 

It is only by maintaining one's loyalty to the 
religious loyalties of the preceding period that this 
personal integration can be safely achieved. "Wilt 
thou be made whole" is the inescapable challenge 
of religion to this life. It is impossible to be loyal 
to one's religion and also to a social group that is 
avowedly irreligious. Guard against any attempt 
to organize the personality around two standards 
of value. Numberless, practical, personal diffi- 
culties arise when a twofold center of life is 
attempted. Simplicity and absolute sincerity are 
the very essence of moral integrity. "If thine eye 
be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." 
There should be one consistent attitude toward 
all things. Character is a circle. It has but one 
center. It is not an hyperbola, having two centers. 

The beginning of the dissociation of piety from 
goodness, and religion from morality usually takes 
place during these middle adolescent years. Par- 
tial consecration to the Jesus ideal leaves room for 
antagonisms to spring up within one's self. As 
each opposing loyalty becomes more firmly estab- 
lished, a dual life proceeds from them. Member- 
ship in the church is no longer a guarantee of 
moral integrity in business or social life. Con- 
science becomes habitually violated in some par- 
ticulars. 



166 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

III. The Law of Conversion 

If a false or a dual center of personality has been 
adopted, conversion becomes necessary and im- 
perative. Conversion may involve a renewal of 
one's loyalty to a previous loyalty, temporarily 
abandoned. Or it may be concerned chiefly with 
the vigorous and final rejection or overthrow of a 
desire, an interest, or a habit that is unworthy but 
which has been competing f 01 the place of suprem- 
acy. The enthronement of self-will or the sweep- 
ing rejection of all external authority in early 
adolescence, often lays the foundation for a spirit- 
ual crisis in the following period. 

This experience of conversion during middle 
adolescence, usually affects the feelings profoundly. 
It will never again take place with as little diffi- 
culty and personal pain. Therefore, see to it that 
any early tendency toward false or unworthy in- 
tegration of the self is now brought to an end. 
Life is still so plastic that conversion can take 
place without loss of those fundamental elements 
out of which mature Christian character is built. 
In later periods, all is not salvable. Only a partial 
realization of the true self is possible. 

IV. The Law of Adolescent Mysticism 

The religious life is now dominantly emotional. 
It is less impulsive than it was and less critical 



OF ADOLESCENTS 167 

than it will be later on. Feelings are easily aroused. 
Sentiments come and go like the ceaseless tides of 
the ocean. Religion is taken to heart. The higher 
types of mysticism contain a message particularly 
suited to the needs of this life. The practice of the 
presence of God is a wholesome, natural exercise. 
Meditation and introspection are frequent. There 
is a longing for personal fellowship with God. 
Original, first-hand, immediate awareness of His 
presence brings supreme satisfaction. 

Therefore, provide an abundance of sensory ex- 
periences that are religiously meaningful. There 
is special appreciation of art, music, architecture 
and ceremonial. Religious experience should now 
have that fervency and glow that is so frequently 
seen in the young people's devotional meeting. 
Music is the religious language especially of the 
middle adolescent heart. 

But guard against overstimulation. Many an 
adult who is unreasonable in his attitude toward 
the sacredness of the Lord's Day or foolishly 
alarmed at a reasonable theory of the inspiration 
of the Bible is simply the victim of emotional 
extravagance or mystical excesses during middle 
adolescence, the harmful results of which have 
never been corrected. Religious excesses^ during 
these years are apt to result in the young person's 
becoming either an incurable crank or a confirmed 



168 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

scoffer. Guard also against that other danger, 
flippant irreverence and other emotional forms of 
irreligion. 

It is during these years that the value of the 
Bible, the church with its sacraments and services, 
and private devotions are rediscovered. They 
come to have a vital, personal meaning. The 
middle adolescent is not merely forming religious 
habits or storing his mind with religious truth. 
He is literally feeding upon the Bread of Life. 
His communion in prayer is actually social inter- 
course with God. He has a religious experience 
that is his own. 

V. The Law of Ardent, Organized Endeavor 

This warm religious experience finds expression 
naturally in ardent forms of service. Spiritual 
visions and religious ecstasies need the hardening, 
solidifying effects which come from practical effort. 
Fervent devotion is passionately expressive. Im- 
pulses to serve are now re-enforced by emotion. 
All of one's personal resources are apt to be 
brought to bear upon the task in hand. Self is not 
spared. Hardships are not occasions of discour- 
agement. Tasks are now undertaken by social 
groups as well as by individuals. These efforts, 
however, come to their fullest flower within social 
groups organized to render actual service. 



( OF ADOLESCENTS 169 

In order to have the greatest value, these plans 
for rendering service should, for the most part, be 
worked out by the young people themselves. 
Adult leadership is not resented if it is tactful and 
makes large provision for independent action. In 
these groups that have a common religious loyalty 
and plans for giving expression to that loyalty, 
both boys and girls can meet together. At times, 
however, they will wish to act separately. These 
wishes should not be interfered with. 

It is natural that the service impulses now take 
the direction of the improvement of the commu- 
nity in which one lives. Civic consciousness is a 
marked characteristic of middle adolescent social 
consciousness. The welfare of all the people in a 
given community, one's home town, makes a pro- 
found appeal to their altruism and to that outlook 
which now transcends a particular church or 
denomination and comes to appreciate all human 
life. Community civics, housing, industrial basis, 
transportation, health, sanitation, and other sim- 
ilar subjects, if properly presented, awaken an 
immediate response, challenging both study^and 
endeavor. 

VI. The Law of Friendship and Romance 

The desire to hold membership in a group no 
longer comprises the entire demand for social 



170 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

experience. Tender sentiments weave themselves 
around individuals. There is a ready appreciation 
of personal traits of character. It is the time of' 
romance. There is yearning for ideal friendship. 
One's dependence upon others to complete the 
circle of one's own life or to supplement one's own 
personality is felt. "Love affairs," that for the 
time fill the entire horizon of thought and devo- 
tion, may suddenly spring up within a life that 
had seemed to be immune. 

To provide a social environment made up of 
young people whose fidelity to religious ideals is 
unquestioned and whose personal influence there- 
fore is spiritually wholesome is a vital part of a 
program of religious education suited to these 
years. A wide acquaintance among young people 
having rich personalities and moral integrity of 
character will tend to elevate and refine the 
youth's social ideals. It provides the only safe 
environment in which the parental instinct can 
ripen. There, is no complete guarantee, however, 
that temporary personal attachments will not 
spring up on the basis of chance acquaintance. 

These years have been called the period of 
storm and stress. For interests are personal. It 
is not merely the imagination and reason that are 
active. Personal attitudes are assured. Hostility 
to religion is usually hostility to a person or per- 



OF ADOLESCENTS 171 

sons who are falsely religious or personally repel- 
lent; abnormally extreme religion is usually ardent 
devotion to a person or persons who are religious 
fanatics. 

A tragic situation develops when the social 
group to which a boy or girl naturally belongs is 
indifferent to religion or perhaps positively anti- 
religious and when the religious group in which 
membership seems to be inevitable is socially 
crude or unattractive. To fight these battles alone 
may'lead to permanent discouragement or bitter- 
ness of soul. Somewhere within the entire range 
of these vigorous and at times contradictory 
thrusts of personality, help this youth to maintain 
an abiding core of friendship ideals and loyalties 
around which wholesome sentiments and visions 
can be built up. 

VII. The Law of Culture and Restraint 

Social and educational interests and engage- 
ments are apt to become so numerous and intense 
that they interfere with the culture of personal 
religion. In many communities, social engage- 
ments and the study or work program practically 
monopolize the entire time and strength that 
should be given to Bible study, prayer-meetings, 
church school and other means of religious devel- 
opment. 



172 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

The building of Christian character now in- 
volves the maintenance of a proper balance of 
culture and restraint. First things should come 
first. There is no inherent antagonism between 
social and religious interests. But they have to 
be adjusted to each other. Some good things have 
to be given up in the interest of the highest good. 
The culture of religion should not be ignored ex- 
cept at those times when one is in a state of mental 
or physical fatigue. It takes time to cultivate the 
things of the spirit. 

The lack of co-operation among the church, the 
home and the public school together with the ab- 
normal emphasis placed, in some communities, 
upon matters of relatively inferior value, leave 
multitudes of middle adolescent boys and girls 
confused. They are caught up in a pandemonium 
of exciting interests and activities and do not have 
the power to select only those that are worthy, 
rejecting the others. It is hard to build a simple, 
moral structure in the midst of such highly varied 
and strongly competing influences. 

VIII. The Law of Vocational Specialization 

In the midst of a multitude of highly varied and 
competing interests, one steadying influence is 
felt. It is the tendency to focalize one's attention 
upon the choice of a life work. With reference to 



OF ADOLESCENTS 173 

it, interests come to have relative values. The 
marks of individuality and of temperament are 
now realized to such an extent as to greatly in- 
crease a youth's knowledge of himself and of what 
will be of lasting service to him. High schools are 
beginning to render a most valuable service in 
providing pre-vocational guidance and informa- 
tion. If a middle adolescent boy has decided what 
he wants to do in life, he will find the problems of 
culture and restraint greatly simplified. No longer 
will all things inherently interesting be of equal 
interest to him. 

This final selection of a vocation should not take 
place before one has had some familiarity with a 
relatively large number of possible choices. The 
choice should be made while the personality is 
sufficiently plastic to make possible the most com- 
plete adaptation and abiding enthusiasm. But it 
should not be made before the truly integrated 
self has been realized and before a sufficiently wide 
familiarity with several vocations have made it 
possible for the final decision to be an intelligent 
one. 

IX. The Law of Apprenticeship in Leadership 

The one who is understood and appreciated by 
the individuals who, with himself, constitute the 
members of a social organization, is surrounded 



174 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

with opportunities to realize whatever leadership 
talents he may possess. The resulting apprentice- 
ship in leadership should not be too closely super- 
vised and should never be interfered with by in- 
judicious adults. Skill comes through practice 
under tactful guidance and in the midst of others 
of approximately the same age. As long as these 
young people feel that their organization is not 
their own, that their mistakes will come under the 
scrutiny of older folks, and that only experienced 
workers should hold office, so long will the supply 
of future leaders for the church fail to be discovered 
and trained. In each local church, there might 
well be one person whose specific duty would be to 
acquaint certain people with the fact that their 
continued membership in the young people's or- 
ganization, whether it is Epworth League, Chris- 
tian Endeavor, Baptist Young People's Union, or 
similar society, means positive harm to the young 
people, for it interferes with their having practice 
in leadership. 

X. The Law of the Sustained Spiritual Life 

Adequate provision should be made for keeping 
alive the spiritual life re-affirmed or inaugurated 
during these years. The chief sources of a sus- 
tained spirituality are now private prayer, com- 
mon worship, Bible study, social service that is 



OF ADOLESCENTS 175 

supported by a religious motive, and unbroken 
fellowship with religiously-minded friends. These 
sources of a sustained faith in God, belief in His 
Holy Word, confidence in organized Christianity 
and fellowship in service must be kept open at 
any cost. Prayer is now both instinctive and in- 
dispensable. It meets a definite need. The im- 
pulse to prayer grows out of the social sensitive- 
ness that appreciates confidences and fellowship. 
"Prayer is the supreme opportunity of friendship 
with God kept vital by regular, deliberate com- 
munion with Him." In common worship the 
powerful influence of social suggestion is felt. In 
both private and public worship, a purified self- 
consciousness and an exalted God-consciousness 
are realized. 

Middle adolescent young people are naturally 
hungry for spiritual food. They are restive in the 
presence of mere formality or hollow ritual. Sin- 
cerity is now an instinctive demand. Hypocrisy 
is looked upon with horror. The teacher of relig- 
ion dare not be merely perfunctory. An artificial 
motive, false pretense, or careless inconsistency 
will be easily detected. Inaccuracies in fact-in- 
formation also should be zealously avoided. Sen- 
timents that surround religious essentials are apt 
to spread to other less important things closely 
related to them. All of the institutions of religion 



176 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

become richly meaningful. They should be ad- 
ministered only by those having clean hands and 
pure hearts, free from vanity and deceit, having 
a luxuriant faith and fervent devotion. 

The moral and religious inspiration that comes 
through Bible study comes in part from the reali- 
zation that it contains the record of the lives of 
real flesh-and-blood men and women. The inter- 
pretations of this sacred record are greatly in- 
fluenced, consciously or unconsciously, by the 
known attitudes of others toward the Bible. With 
the help of a suitable spiritual sponsor, however, 
the deeper personal realization of what it means 
to be a disciple of Christ comes directly from a 
study of the Bible, balanced with a program of 
Christian service. 

Questions for Individual and Group Study 

1. What are the ten laws governing the religious 
education of middle adolescent boys and girls? 

2. Why is it necessary to find the true center of 
one's personality during these years? 

3. What is the danger of having conflicting 
loyalties? 

4. Describe middle adolescent conversion. 

5. How are the Bible, prayer and the church 
re-discovered during this period? 



OF ADOLESCENTS 177 

6. What forms of expression should religion take 
at this time? 

7. How would you describe the social interests 
of this period? 

8. What dangers arise from too many intense, 
personal interests? 

9. How does vocational training help to meet 
these difficulties? 

10. Why is practice in leadership now impor- 
tant? 

11. How is the spiritual life sustained during 
middle adolescence? 



13 



CHAPTER XI 

PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 
FOR LATER ADOLESCENTS 

I. The Law of a Completed Adolescence 

Because of poverty, death of parents, misfor- 
tune or calamity, the majority of adolescent young 
people take up the responsibilities of adulthood 
before it is time. This final period of development 
is either short-circuited altogether or is passed 
through too rapidly to make possible the complete 
realization of one's natural power. Many young 
men at nineteen have experiences that should be 
postponed until they are thirty. With only a 
limited portion of their inherited capacities real- 
ized, they face the heavy burdens of caring for 
their own or their father's family, making a living, 
or competing for advancement in their chosen 
trade or profession. 

To assume such responsibilities prematurely 
usually results in premature senility. Many per- 
sons, for forty years, carry a burden of regret for 
mistakes made during later adolescence, mistakes 
which have resulted in unhappy marriage, lack of 
college education, failure to develop priceless 

178 



OF ADOLESCENTS 179 

talents, or inadequate foundation for advance- 
ment in the field chosen as one's life work. 

One of the common tragedies of life is to see 
adults striving against heavy odds to make up for 
the deficiencies of an incompleted adolescence. 
The best way to prepare for a normal maturity 
and old age is to enjoy to the full the possible un- 
folding of life that takes place naturally during 
the years eighteen to twenty-four. Help these 
young people to take time to mature slowly. Save 
them from the temptation to rush hurriedly into 
the responsibilities of adulthood. The value of a 
good education, of an avocation as well as of a 
vocation, of wide social experience and familiarity 
with more than one possible, vocation should be 
pointed out. Broaden by retarding. 

II. The Law of Differentiation 

During these years, young people tend to be- 
come identified with different social, educational 
and industrial groups. Selection and concentra- 
tion cause lives to diverge. To undertake to put 
together in the same class, college students and 
young men who had to go to work before they had 
finished high school, or girls who are just home 
from college with factory girls, is to attempt what 
is pedagogically impossible. The religious, rec- 
reation and social needs have now become more 



180 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

distinct and highly specialized. There are such 
marked differences in capacities, interests, habits, 
desires, ambitions, impulses, satisfiers, that the 
work of the educator cannot be done on a whole- 
sale basis. Precocity and backwardness, as well as 
other causes of individual differences must be 
taken into account. 

Courses of lessons, methods of teaching and 
types of activities must now be carefully deter- 
mined with reference to the particular needs of 
the various types and groups of young people for 
which they are intended. The recognition of these 
differences should not be made in such a way as 
to encourage snobbishness or other false social 
sentiments, but solely for the purpose of preserv- 
ing symmetry, balance and wholeness of life, and 
otherwise to stimulate normal development. 
Recognize the special needs of the different types 
of later adolescent young people. 

III. The Law of Worthy Motives in Life's 
Great Decisions 

These young people should start out in life with 
a motive large and strong and pure enough to lead 
them with moral safety and victory through all 
the struggles of adulthood. To begin adult life 
with low ideals or unworthy motives is to endanger 
both moral character and vocational success. The 



OF ADOLESCENTS 181 

purpose one has in view in taking up one's life- 
work will, determine largely whether or not that 
work will become a means of grace or a spiritual 
liability. If Emerson had had no other ambition 
than that of becoming an auctioneer, or if Lincoln 
had had no ideal for his life beyond that of be- 
coming a country lawyer, or if Paul had remained 
a merely typical Pharisee, whole areas of person- 
ality would have remained unrealized. When sor- 
did self-seeking takes the place of whole-hearted 
desire to be of the greatest possible service, the 
individual sooner or later becomes a moral burden 
upon society — a parasite rather than a contribu- 
tor. One of the most vital methods of governing 
later adolescents and adults is to inspire them 
with the purest motives and most exalted ideals 
in choosing that form of service which will be their 
life work. Their choices should be worthy of their 
best selves. 

In the natural order of unfolding, love between 
the sexes is spontaneous and sensitive. Romantic 
sentiments easily burst out into passionate affec- 
tion. The danger is that, in the midst of this 
wealth of emotion, moral and prudential standards 
may be lost sight of. To turn one's back upon one's 
religious motives and moral ideals in this hour is 
fatal. Make sure that religious motives and 



182 THE EELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

moral idealism are not compromised in the selec- 
tion of a vocation or the establishment of a home. 

IV. The Law of a Changed Environment 

Later adolescence, for many, is a time when old 
ties are broken. Suddenly, one finds oneself lo- 
cated in a distant city or other new environment, 
among strangers. The old familiar faces and ob- 
jects which were the moral supports of childhood 
are no longer present. It seems as though a part 
of one's self had been taken away, for home and 
youthful friends come to be spiritual accessories 
of personality. The old, comfortable self-con- 
sciousness has not been carried into the new sur- 
roundings. There is a new and strange sense of 
freedom and independence. 

The possession of surplus money, after board 
bills and room rent have been paid, becomes an 
intoxicant. For the first time, there is no longer 
the felt obligation to give an account to anybody. 
This sense of freedom may easily lead to moral 
recklessness. The ethical standards of fellow- 
workmen, boarders, lodgers, students, are easily 
substituted for those formerly held. The ethics of 
one's trade may present a very serious practical 
problem. 

This is a critical time in the moral development 
of the individual. Diligently guard such young 



OF ADOLESCENTS 183 

people from temptations arising out of a changed 
environment. Place them in wholesome, uplifting 
surroundings. They need the support of new 
friends of the old sort. Show special diligence in 
searching out, encouraging or otherwise helping 
those who have recently moved beyond the imme- 
diate reach of those moral supports with which, 
as children, they were familiar. 

V. The Law of Institutional Loyalty 

This is the period to which political parties, 
fraternal organizations, various clubs, societies 
and orders make their appeal for new recruits. 
The objects for which these organizations stand, 
their numerical strength and impressive ritual or 
appointments make a powerful appeal to the later 
adolescent mind. Ambition to be associated with 
people of influence, interest in the serious aspects 
of the social order, ambition to have a part in real 
economic, civic, social or professional affairs, and 
unfamiliarity with the actual cost in time and 
money of holding active membership in several 
such organizations often result in these young 
people becoming hopelessly involved. They are 
unable to make their best contributions to those 
institutions which count for the most in advancing 
the Kingdom of God. 

One important question now to be decided is: 



184 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

Which institutions should receive deepest loyalty? 
If all cannot be supported, which ones are most 
worthy? Some invitations will have to be de- 
clined. Give these young people a principle in the 
light of which their obligations of membership in 
organizations can be rightly determined. Help 
them to ally themselves with those institutions 
which are making the greatest contributions to the 
establishment of the Kingdom of God among men. 

VI. The Law of Leadership 

Adult supervision, which is so greatly needed in 
the direction of early adolescent group activities 
and hardly less needed, though its presence should 
be less in evidence, during middle adolescence, can 
now be practically withdrawn. By the time boys 
and girls have reached later adolescence, they 
should have learned through experience the weak- 
nesses of autocratic and oligarchical methods of 
leadership. They should now be having actual 
leadership experience under a democratic form of 
group government. 

This advanced training in leadership will involve 
practice in public speaking and debating, famil- 
iarity with the laws of deliberative assemblies, 
intelligent appreciation of civic and economic 
affairs, experience in carrying projects through 
with financial and prudential success, the laying 



OF ADOLESCENTS 185 

of plans requiring the activities of an organization 
for an entire season or year, intelligent co-opera- 
tion between the sexes, the accurate keeping of 
records, permanency and practical usefulness of 
organized activities, good judgment in selecting 
and deputizing individuals to perform specific 
tasks, methods of effective supervision. 

Such training requires that serious and practical 
enterprises be undertaken, and that adjustments 
be made within the young people's permanent 
organization in order that such undertakings may 
be successfully completed. Therefore, discover, 
further develop, and make serious use of any 
capacities for leadership that exist. Carefully 
guard against those false methods of leadership 
that are not based upon ability to perform truly 
great service. 

It is also highly important that those who do 
not possess the capacities for leadership make that 
discovery during adolescence. The majority of 
adults will perform their highest service by carry- 
ing out, in a faithful and thoroughgoing way, the 
plans which others have originated, or in working 
at tasks which others have assigned to them. 

VII. The Law of Heroic Service 

The work of the ordinary wide-awake local 
church is determined largely by the character of 



186 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

the community in which it is located. But in all 
churches the following types of lay service are 
needed. Organization and management of the 
church school, teaching in the various departments 
of the church school, directing the musical min- 
istry of the church, recreational leadership, vari- 
ous kinds of social, civic, benevolent, missionary 
and community service, care of church property, 
directing inter-church activities, lay preaching and 
evangelistic work of various kinds. 

The commission for heroic service was a part of 
our Lord's training of the twelve apostles. A sim- 
ilar commission is needed to complete the program 
of religious education for later adolescents. Much 
of the earlier training fails to be conserved because 
it is not made serious use of. A faith that fails to 
find expression in works is abortive, incomplete, 
and in danger of being lost. A great faith and 
devotion must have a correspondingly large op- 
portunity of service. 

The altruism of later adolescence is increasingly 
practical. The program of the local church should 
be worthy of the final invoices of spiritual energy 
which later adolescents receive. The standards of 
service should not be lowered during that period 
of life when spontaneous interest in athletic rec- 
ords, social advancement and economic success is 
at its height. The work of the local church should 



Of ADOLESCENTS - 187 

be so organized as to make use of the large capacities 
for service which characterize later adolescence. 

VIII. The Law of Specialized Training 

To be an unskilled laborer in our Lord's vine- 
yard or to bury any talents in a napkin and to 
fail to use them is to merit divine condemnation. 
Special aptitudes and desires must be discovered. 
The principle of economy as well as efficiency 
demands specialized forms of training as well as 
specialized opportunities for service. Respect in- 
dividuality both in service and in preparation for 
service. 

This law implies the recruiting of ministers, 
missionaries and professional social workers as 
well as of trained lay workers. Since the local 
church cannot provide all the specialized forms of 
training needed in the preparation of effective lay 
and professional workers, co-operation among the 
churches of a community or district, with this end 
in view, becomes not only a practical necessity 
but a moral obligation. The curriculum of a 
church school that does not provide for graded 
forms of expressional activity, as well as of in- 
struction, is incomplete. This program of expres- 
sional activity comes to its full flower only when 
all the service resources of all the young people 
have been laid hold of. 



188 THE ftELIGtOtJS EDUCATION 

IX. The Law of Rational Supremacy 

In his search for facts, for truth that can be 
scientifically or philosophically verified, there is 
danger that the later adolescent may develop a 
cynical attitude toward sentimental and aesthetic 
values. This period is sometimes called the "age 
of doubt" or of disbelief, because of the extreme 
readiness with which truths that cannot be scien- 
tifically or philosophically verified are cast aside. 

But this is not the chief characteristic of this 
period. The positive appreciation of any religious, 
political, scientific or social truth that presents 
itself with rational credentials is both natural and 
spontaneous. A real danger is encountered, how- 
ever, when it is discovered that former teachers — 
taking unfair advantage of the credulity of chil- 
dren and early adolescent boys and girls — have 
caused them to believe that which is now dis- 
covered to be untrue. In casting aside a trifling 
error, some young people are apt to go too far and 
to get rid of that which is fundamental but as yet 
unappreciated. 

New and radical views are now adopted with 
greater ease than is possible in later life. To see 
the difference between essentials and non-essen- 
tials is a real achievement. Help these young 
people to be judicious and fair in their reasoning. 
The extravagant hopes and passionate ideals of 



• OE ADOLESCENTS 180 

earlier years may now appear to have carried them 
too far but in this time of disillusionment, see to it 
that their critical attitude does not lead to a reac- 
tion that is extreme and permanently harmful. 
Under guidance, help them to submit their religion 
to a frank, thoroughgoing, rational test. But 
emphasize positive values and constructive criti- 
cisms. 

X. The Law of a Religious Creed 

Some life philosophy or personal point of view 
is sure to be evolved and formulated during this 
period. The later adolescent is naturally a creed 
maker. His beliefs tend to become definite in 
form. He delights in argument and debate. Ac- 
curacy of statement is a vital part of his reasoning 
process. Creedal beliefs — such as the Apostles 
Creed — now become either necessary and ration- 
ally satisfying or the source of intellectual irrita- 
tion. There must be a definite, simple core to his 
religious beliefs and around it the whole is grad- 
ually organized into a system. 

Beliefs that are not thus crystallized and ar- 
ranged in order are apt to become vague and in- 
effective. They are easily lost. The practical 
affairs of mature responsibility will soon crowd 
aside this creed-forming interest. Before that time 
comes, his mind should anive at a statement of 



190 THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

beliefs which is true to the Christian revelation 
and which is fundamentally similar to that which 
others, who are sound in the faith, have adopted. 
When his own individual creed is in harmony with 
the common creed of the church, efficient co-opera- 
tion is made easier. 

In all progressive denominations, special em- 
phasis is being placed upon social service and all 
other forms of expressional activities. There is a 
widespread and popular appreciation of goodwill 
and kind deeds. The educational pendulum has 
swung far in this direction. There is danger that 
this movement will have the practical result of 
ignoring the importance of having our young 
people well-grounded in the faith. A universal 
bond of commonly accepted beliefs is necessary to 
the unity and solidity of living Christianity. To 
think together is important. It takes something 
besides a general, benevolent attitude to make a 
Christian. There is a historic origin and develop- 
ment of Christianity. The church has a theology. 
Her doctrines are not matters to be set aside 
lightly. Later adolescents face the responsibility 
of being able to give a reason for their faith. They 
should not be blown about by every wind of 
doctrine. 



OF ADOLESCENTS 191 

Questions for Individual and Group Study 

1. What are the ten laws that summarize the 
program of religious education for later adolescent 
young people? 

2. Why should adolescent development be com- 
pleted? 

3. What account should be taken of the differ- 
ent types of young people found in this period? 

4. In what spirit should life's greatest decisions 
be made? 

5. What practical problems arise out of a 
changed environment? 

6. What kind of institutions deserve the su- 
preme loyalty and active memberships of later 
adolescents? 

7. What practical problems are now involved 
in achieving leadership? 

8. What types of lay service are possible in the 
local church? 

9. Point out the reasons for specialized training 
for service. 

10. How does the supremacy of the rational 
faculties affect later adolescent religion? 

11. Of what value is a religious creed? 



3L T 



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